


I Got Reunited with My Best Friend and All I Got was a Dirty T-shirt

by PinkCloudiness626



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: After a massive writer's block I'm trying to ease myself back into writing., Babies, Domestic Fluff, Eggwich, I drew a picture too!, If you are into that sort of thing, Juudai can cook, M/M, Packed with headcannons, Post-Canon, Reunion, Shou is a single dad, Single Parents, anikishipping, no beta we die like men, please go easy on me, you know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:01:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25604758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkCloudiness626/pseuds/PinkCloudiness626
Summary: Some time ago, Shou Marufuji took a decision that would change his life forever. Sure, he was scared at first. And now he is beyond tired…But he knows he can handle it.Surprise reunions however….Yeah, he might not be able to handle that.
Relationships: Anikishipping - Relationship, Marufuji Shou | Syrus Truesdale/Yuuki Juudai | Jaden Yuki
Comments: 55
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Notes: So…. I got hit with a bad case of writer’s block thanks to.... Some stressful stuff going on. But thanks to some wonderful people I’m happy to call my friends, I felt so encouraged that I’ve managed to make this silly piece to finally properly introduce an AU of mine that I like to call the Family AU.

Juudai was not sure if he was feeling excitement or fear. Perhaps it was some weird combination of the two.

What is he going to say?

…Maybe he should just stay quiet and smile?

Yeah.

That sounds right.

But what kind of smile?

Maybe a “Long time no see!” smile…. Or the “I know I should have kept in contact more but…. I missed you?” kind?

Mmm….

Oh! Maybe he should just grin and say “Hey! Missed me?”

It might earn him a slap on the face but Shou’s reaction would be so worth it.

_“Juudai, your legs are shaking again.”_ The young duelist could feel Yubel’s mocking smirk.

He giggled.

_God_ , Shou can’t open the door fast enough.

It feels as if he has been standing around for years and it hasn’t even been a minute yet.

Or…. Has it?

Huh, maybe he should just knock again.

_The door was suddenly unlocked._

Well, never mind.

Juudai smirked, preparing himself to finally surprise his best friend after such a long time.

“How many times do I have to tell you to stop knocking and just use your key? Ryou, that’s literally why I gave it to yo-”

A pair of gray eyes snapped wide open.

Shou’s words died right in his mouth.

Juudai had been actually expecting this to happen, and in his mind: he saw himself responding to that shock with a smile. If anything, this was his cue to make sure his plan for this reunion goes perfectly.

However, he could not smile right now.

Because Shou was not the only person in front of him right now.

Juudai stared.

This other person was small.

No, that’s an understatement, it was super tiny.

It had greenish-gray eyes and blue hair, the exact same hue as Shou’s.

Color wise…. This tiny creature was the spitting image of the man holding it with only his left arm.

Juudai wanted to say something.

But his mouth went dry.

A hundred thoughts invaded his mind, but he could not process them

There was a mess going on inside his head, if Yubel was trying to snap him out of it then he definitely couldn’t hear them.

“H-hi.”

The young brunette blinked, and the storm in his mind stopped so abruptly.

He tried to reply, tried to let out a simple “Hi.”

But a weird sound was all that came out from his throat.

“I…. Um…. I-I wasn’t…. Uh….”

Prepared?

Was that what he was trying to say? That he wasn’t prepared?

Of course, he wasn’t prepared!

Not even Juudai was prepared for an encounter like _this._

“S-so! How is it-”

A very high-pitched sound, that Juudai was incredibly unfamiliar with, snapped the two men out of their awkward trance.

The baby in Shou’s arm started extending its little hands, trying to reach this stranger standing right in front of it.

“Honey, wait!” Shou seemed to go straight into panic mode, grabbing the infant with both hands and slightly moving his head every few seconds to avoid getting kicked in the face.

The child whined, it kept trying to reach for Juudai.

“I know you are excited, my little fairy!” He tried to laugh but it just made his stress even more apparent.

Juudai blinked, did Shou just called it _his little fairy?_

That is definitely something he would have never thought he would hear from his best friend.

The baby lets out an “Eeee!” sound, still kicking and reaching.

“I know!” He laughed, as if he understood what the kid was saying. “But remember, honey! Not everyone enjoys having drool all over their shirts!” Now it sounded like he was begging, but the baby didn’t care about his argument, she just kept moving.

“What?” Juudai blinked, he did not realize he said that out loud until Shou looked at him.

“S-sorry!” Shou avoided a kick as he spoke. “It’s just that she just started teething and won’t stop chewing on anything!”

“I-” Juudai started mumbling but it seemed as if Shou wasn’t done explaining.

“She also loves meeting new people!”

…. Oh.

So, according to that explanation: this baby is a “she _”_ and… Juudai is a “new people” in Shou’s life all of the sudden.

“It’s okay.” Breathed out, looking away.

Shou must have noticed how troubled Juudai looked. Well, either that or he did an awful job on trying to act natural.

“Why don’t you come in?” He still sounded a bit awkward but seemed quite desperate about finding a way to get out of this situation.

Juudai froze for a second, thinking of something to say back.

“Is it gonna be okay with your partner?”

….

In hindsight, he should have known he wasn’t thinking of anything good to say.

“…. Partner?” Now Shou was the one who blinked.

“Yeah…. You know….” Juudai scratched the back of his head, trying to smile. “Wife…. Husband….”

Shou froze.

And that caused him to become a victim of his daughter’s kicking.

“Ow!” Shou moaned, Juudai winced as he saw the tiny foot collide with his friend’s jaw.

Trying to ignore the pain, the young bluenette just sighed and decided to wrap both his arms around his baby. She would end up kicking his stomach instead, but at least his face would be safe now.

“N-no!” He still managed to answer Juudai’s question. “I don’t have either.”

Huh…. Shou recovered quite quickly from that…. Was he really _that_ used to get kicked on the face?

However, there were other questions inside Juudai’s head.

“So…. Girlfriend?”-

Shou sighed and shook his head.

“Boyfriend?”

“Nope.”

Juudai arched an eyebrow in confusion.

“So…. Is this just a kid you are babysitting?” He asked. “Wait, is she like…. Your niece or something?”

Shou breathed out a soft laugh and then looked back at him.

Juudai noticed the faint blush on his cheeks.

“No…. She’s completely my daughter.”

….

“I’m confused.”

He laughed again.

“And I don’t blame you for it.” Shou had a smile on his face as he shook his head ever so slightly. “Come inside, I promise to explain everything.”

Not knowing what else to do, Juudai just nodded.

“Thanks.” He mumbled as he followed Shou, lowering down his gaze when he saw the baby squirm in her father’s arms and climb to his shoulder, so she could get another glance at Juudai.

“Oh also…. Just don’t make a lot of noise, please.” He heard his friend whisper.

“Huh? Why?” He looked up and noticed that Shou had turned around and was blushing again.

“Because you will wake up my other kids.”

….

“What?!”

“What did I just say?!”

“S-sorry!”

* * *

When they made it to the living room, Juudai wasn’t sure of where to look at. His options were to either stare at Shou, the baby on his lap, who was still trying to reach for him, or the other two babies sleeping in some kind of small holder-thingy right in front of the couch.

So, he decided to just force himself to cough and do his damn best to act relaxed.

“So…. You have kids now.”

Shou giggled for a second, Juudai couldn’t help but to notice it made his daughter stop trying to grab his leg and just make a cheery noise and waive her little arms.

It looks like she likes the sound of Shou’s laughter….

Well, for that he can’t blame her.

“Yes.” Shou nodded, the faint blush coming back to his cheeks.

“And…. Since when?”

“Um…. About eight months.” He answered, a bit sheepish.

The young bluenette braced himself for the next question, he was perfectly sure a “Why didn’t you tell me?” was coming at any second.

“That’s…. That’s pretty cool.” He heard Juudai mumble.

“Y-yeah.” He found himself nodding awkwardly.

Juudai stood quiet for a moment, trying to pick up his words carefully.

_“He literally said he would explain it to you, I don’t get why you are so nervous.”_ He could tell Yubel was enjoying this, over the years, their particular interest in pain had also spread out to an utter enjoyment of any kind of cringe and awkwardness.

Juudai didn’t get it, but he tried to not focus on it.

“So….” He started to blush a little. “Uh…. You said that you would-”

“Right! Right!” Shou giggled. “Sorry!”

Juudai nodded and saw him take a deep breath.

“So…. I kinda…. Hired a surrogate a while ago.”

Oh……

What?

“Why” The young brunette seemed genuinely confused.

“Uh…. I just wanted to…. You know…. Have kids.” Shou almost whispered. “It was actually something I had wanted for a long time but…. I just kept quiet about it…. Specially if I was dating someone…”

“And…. Why’s that?”

“Well…. Not many people are into parenting…. A-and don’t get me wrong! That’s perfectly fine! But… I did want it so…. I decided to just do it…. All by myself.”

Juudai noticed how different had Shou’s body language become. He looked down at his lap and hugged his baby close to his chest.

“I just…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Shou blinked and lifted his gaze.

“Shou, you shouldn’t have to explain yourself if you don’t want to.” Juudai gifted him a sincere smile. “If this is what you wanted, and you stood by your decision…. Then I’m happy for you. I really am.”

Shou’s eyes went wide. It seems as if he wasn’t expecting to hear that, and yet, he looked so relieved.

He exhaled and then graced his friend with a silly smile.

“Thanks.” His smile looked so relaxed now. “It…. It means a lot to hear that from you.”

Juudai couldn’t help but to grin after that comment, it just made him feel all fuzzy inside.

“A-anyways!” Shou blushed a little, it has been a long time since he saw Juudai grinning at him like that.

He completely forgot about the effect it used to have on him.

Those feelings…. He still remembered how they used to feel despite of how long it has been.

But he was over it!

He has been over it for years.

“I should introduce you to the triplets! Y-you know! Since you here!” Shou seemed a bit flustered as he laughed.

Triplets…. Juudai’s mind had to adjust to the idea.

But nevertheless, he nodded.

Shou pointed at one of the sleeping babies.

“This is the oldest.” He whispered. “Her name is Ako.”

Juudai quickly noticed the warmth in Shou’s voice as he pronounced his daughter’s name.

He didn’t know his friend’s voice could sound that soft.

Huh, who knows? Maybe it was a dad thing.

“Ako…” Juudai whispered, as if tasting the name in his mouth. “Hey, it kinda sounds like Asu-”

_“It should.”_ Shou nodded. “Asuka found out what I was doing pretty much before I could tell anyone and…. Well, she was so supportive right from the start. She was even the one who brought out the idea of hiring a surrogate after she saw how I had no luck with the adoption agencies.”

Juudai blinked, and then smiled, knowing Shou wasn’t alone in his journey to fatherhood was a relief.

To tell the truth, the idea of Shou going through this alone scared him quite a bit.

“Anyways!” Shou’s gaze lowered to the baby sitting on his lap, she was nomming a piece of her dad’s shirt without a care in the world. “This little spitfire right here is named Ryoko.”

Juudai couldn’t help but to snicker.

“Was your brother okay with that name?”

Shou smirked.

“Well…. He made a comment about how I was doing the whole “matching names” thing our parents did to us and hoped I wouldn’t notice how he started to tear up a little.” He whispered with a laugh, as if he were telling a secret. “But other than that, I’m pretty sure he was fine.”

Juudai giggled, he couldn’t help but to imagine the scene Shou just described.

The mental image of former Hell Kaiser Ryou trying to not cry after learning that his niece got named after him was kind of cute.

He…. He kind of wished he could have been there to see it.

To be there at Shou’s side, trying to hide his laughter as his friend drops that surprise on his brother….

It would have been nice.

Juudai looked at him, then blinked as he noticed how Shou was suddenly quiet while staring at the last baby.

He looked at her, she was holding tight onto a toy as it slept.

The toy seemed to be a gyroid plush and Juudai found that adorable.

“And…. What’s her name?” Before he realized it, he had already asked the question.

He noticed Shou took a deep breath.

Was there something wrong with this kid’s name?

Did he wanted him to guess it?

Or like… Who did he name this one after?

Because in that case Juudai wasn’t sure of what to guess.

…. Maybe Fubuki asked him to…. No, Shou would probably just let him down slowly. He knows they get along but that was too big of a deal.

…. Maybe he named her after Manjoume? Just to see how he would react.

....

Nah.

Shou might have thought of that joke but acting on it was something else.

Mmm…. He does remember Shou telling him that he and Johan actually became quite close a couple of years ago….

…. Well, who knows? Maybe he suggested to name this baby after a crystal or a bug!

“He’s…. A boy, actually.”

Juudai blinked.

“…. Huh?”

Shou looked at Juudai and blushed once again.

“This is my son.” He said, completely bashful. “And…. His name is Yukio.”

Juudai froze.

_Yukio…._

Did he just….

Did Shou really-

“I-I…. I’m sorry I didn’t asked for permission.” He heard Shou said, but he didn’t look at him.

Juudai didn’t know what to say.

He wasn’t mad! Far from it! It was…. It was a great honor! He is happy!

It was just…. Unexpected.

The other names, _he gets it._

He knows Shou and Asuka had gotten used to being technically family now. Fubuki’s reasoning on why those two are siblings is weird in a classic Fubuki fashion, but since Asuka’s brother is now Shou’s brother-in-law, they decided to be there for each other as if they were actual blood relatives.

He also knows that after years of working as a team and living together, Shou is as close to Ryou as he can be. It was hard to patch such a messy relationship, but they figured it out! It was a surprise when he started hearing Shou call his brother by his actual name whenever they talked on the phone. Heck, he can still remember how the shock brushed off his sleepiness that one time Shou called way pass midnight screaming “You won’t believe what the fuck Ryou just tried to pull on me today!”

So yeah, he understands why Shou would name his kids after them…. But him….

Yeah, he knew he was important to Shou, and their friendship was so precious to him but…

Are they even that close nowadays?

The last time they saw each other was years ago, the last time they texted…. It was almost a year ago.

Juudai would never want to even think about losing Shou, it just…. Life got in the way.

And that is why he’s here, to change that….

“Are…. Are you okay with it?” Again, he heard Shou’s voice. It sounded a bit meek, almost fearful.

Juudai felt guilt.

He wasn’t sure if it was guilt for making Shou uncomfortable or for not being there for him in order to be deserving of such an honor…. But the guilt was still there.

“It’s a cute name.” He mumbled in response, clearing his throat when he heard his own voice break for a second.

“Yeah….”

“Um…. I…. I’m sorry.” Juudai looked back up and was met with a look of confusion.

“Huh?”

“For…. You know…. Not being there.”

Shou’s expression changed, it became a bit down.

“That… Would have been a bit hard with me trying to hide it from everyone.”

“What?”

“Yeah.” Shou sighs. “Look, I’m sorry. I was just…. I was scared of having to hear more people say stuff like “You don’t know what you want.” Or “Just wait, I’m sure you’ll find a wife in no time!” Ugh! I-”

Shou looked down, Ryoko had stop chewing on his shirt and was currently pulling a streak of his hair. Instead of complaining about any pain, the young duelist just breathed out a laugh and picked her up to kiss the top of her head.

Juudai smiled, that was adorable.

“I just couldn’t take any of that anymore.” Shou mumbled while he started cradling the baby in his arms and let her lean her head on the crook of his neck.

“Must have been a pain.” Juudai nodded.

“Yup.”

Juudai sighed.

“Still, I-”

_“Meow”_

Both men blinked.

“What was that?” Shou asked.

Juudai looked behind him.

* * *

And tadaaaa!!!   
First chapter done!  
Okay so….this took me a while BUT it kinda reminded me why I liked to write in the first time…Who knows! Maybe I’m not a lost cause after all!  
I hope you enjoyed this story, I promise the point of this AU is fluff but sometimes you need to get the awkwardness out of the way!  
Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think!

Oh! Also! I drew a picture of the babies, I thought it would be nice to add it since I love to draw them and drawing was like therapy for me to treat my writing problem.

(The one on the left is Ako, the one in the middle is Ryoko, and the last one is Yukio)

I really hope you enjoyed this! I am actually excited to make this AU!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before we begin, I really want to thank everyone who read the first chapter. It means a lot to me and it makes me happy that you are enjoying this silly little fic.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and commenting!

There was something moving inside of Juudai’s backpack, Shou blinked as he saw a cat’s head pop out of the opening and starting to squirm its way out of the bag.

The brunette smiled when he saw his friend’s eyes lit up.

“Pharaoh!” Shou smiled and stretched his arm as the cat walked near his old friend.

The feline purred affectionally and leaned into Shou’s touch.

“Wow, he hasn’t changed a bit.” He smiled. “It doesn’t even look like he aged at all.”

Juudai nodded.

“Yeah. To be honest, I think professor Daitokuji’s spirit made him age slowly or something.”

Shou then looked up with a smile.

“Oh, is professor Daitokuji here?” He asked, notoriously excited.

Juudai was going to say something but he cut his own words and looked down, then he shook his head ever so slightly.

“No, he…. Decided that he was ready just a while ago.”

Shou blinked.

“You mean…. He’s gone?”

Juudai nodded, but then smiled softly as he looked up once again.

“But he was happy! He was excited about what the afterlife must be like!” He insisted, his laugh sounded a bit awkward. “I guess…. He was tired of Pharaoh eating his soul all the time and…. Having to follow me around everywhere, huh?”

Shou looked down for a second, not knowing what to say.

“I…. I hope he is having fun.” He tried to smile.

Juudai breathed out a soft laugh.

“Yeah…”

_“Tah!”_

Both men blinked.

Then looked down to see that Ryoko was crawling her way to Pharaoh. She started making noises and gurgles, they could both tell she was excited to meet a cat.

“Say hi, honey.” Shou grabbed his baby before she could grab Pharaoh’s tail. “This is Pharaoh, he is a really good friend I made a long time ago! Say hi!”

“Ahhh!” Ryoko tried to talk.

Juudai giggled.

“Pharaoh says hi too!” The young brunette lifted one of the cat’s paws and waived it. “He’s very excited to meet you!”

The little blue-haired girl gurgled happily.

Pharaoh meowed.

“Aww.” Juudai cooed at the baby. “He likes you already! I think he’s excited to be friends with a human his size!”

He smiled wide when the baby babbled at him, as if she could answer him.

Shou took his hand to his mouth in order to conceal his giggle and faint blush.

God, he wishes he had a camera.

“And when Pharaoh meets mean people….” Juudai picks his cat and places it on top of his head while grabbing both its paws. “He jumps on their heads! Then he takes his claws out! Aims at their faces! And then-”

“Juudai!” Shou hisses.

He stopped, then looked down at the baby.

Ryoko was in awe, she was completely eager for him to continue his story.

“And then he…. He karate-chops them! A-and always knocks them out in one hit!” Juudai blushed and laughed nervously.

Pharaoh meowed, as if he were saying _“Heh…. I’ll allow this.”_

Ryoko giggled and waived her hands.

Juudai giggled too and looked at Shou, expecting some feedback.

The young bluenette smiled and nodded.

“Bwaa!”

Shou then blinked and looked down at the floor.

It seems like Ako had woken up at some point and now she was holding on tight to one side of the couch and straightening her little legs up, all while trying to reach for Pharaoh.

“Sweetie!” Shou picked her up and placed her on his lap. “When did you woke up?”

Ako babbled at his question, then turned her face to see both Juudai and Pharaoh.

“Buh?” She pointed at them.

Shou smiled.

“It’s okay, sweetie.” Shou cooed at his daughter. “These are my friends!”

The little baby kept babbling, Juudai was a bit taken aback in seeing how talkative this one was. But still, he could not deny that the noises she was making were adorable.

“That’s Juudai.” Shou pointed at the brunette, extending the syllables of his name a little bit, teaching it to both girls.

Ryoko just giggled and waived her little arms once again. Ako on the other hand, made a sound that kind of resembled the vowels in the name she just learned.

“Uuaai?” She asked.

“Yes! Good!” He congratulated her.

Juudai giggled.

“And this is Pharaoh.” Shou pointed at the cat on top of Juudai’s head.

Now both girls made cheery noises.

The two men on the couch couldn’t help but to start laughing at that.

“Seems like they like you already, huh buddy?” Juudai smirked at his cat. “But not enough to say your name I’m afraid.”

Juudai stuck his tongue out when he saw Shou smirking at him.

Pharaoh meowed.

Shou’s daughters shrieked with joy.

However, as soon as the happy sounds stopped, a whine invaded the living room.

“Waaaah!”

Shou became visibly tense, he did not say anything, but he did mouth something inaudible. By reading his lips, Juudai believes that he might have mouthed the word “Shit.”

Without moving his legs from his seat on the couch, Shou stretched his arm and bent over to pick up his son, who looked very much in distress.

Juudai was impressed, his friend managed to grab a baby without having to move the other two babies on top of his lap.

“Shh…. It’s okay.” Shou whispered as the cradled the baby on his arms. “Don’t cry, jellybean.”

Juudai had to force his mouth shut to not let his laugh escape.

But that wasn’t without him making a “Pff!” sound instead.

Well, at least it made the girls laugh.

Juudai blushed when he saw Shou arching an eyebrow and looked away for a moment.

“No no, it’s okay. Did all the noise woke you up?” Shou asked with a hum. “We are so sorry, jellybean.”

As he gave Yukio a kiss on the forehead, the whimpering seemed to start ceasing, and he opened his teary eyes.

Juudai almost gasped.

They were not gray like Shou’s.

They were a dark teal color.

“Wait, he has your brother’s eyes?” He accidentally thought out loud.

Shou blinked and looked at him, Yukio did too but he immediately cowered back and gripped on his dad’s shirt.

“Huh? O-oh, yes. He does.” Shou mumbled, starting to quietly rock the baby. “And sorry, he’s just really shy.”

“Hey, not a problem.” Juudai shook his head, and then smirked. “Thou, he does remind me of a _certain someone_ that used to be so shy as well.”

Shou arched an eyebrow and smirked knowingly.

“Oh, don’t you start with that.” He said, his voice acquiring a teasing tone. “Also, look out for Pharaoh’s tail.

Juudai looked down and saw Ryoko trying to climb his knees and reach for the cat’s tail.

“Does she ever stop with the grabby-hands thing?” Juudai asked, a bit curious but also a bit concerned.

“Nope!” Shou shook his head and giggled. “Ryoko is a first-class go-getter. If she sees something interesting, you bet she is already trying to climb and grab it.”

Juudai nodded after hearing that explanation, then he held the little girl’s hands in an attempt to divert her attention away from Pharaoh’s tail.

It worked, now she was giggling and gripping on his fingers.

Ako babbled at the scene, pointing at them while looking at her father. As if she was trying to say “Look!”

Shou laughed softly.

“Ako is more of an observer.” He explained as he ruffled her hair. “She likes learning new stuff and gets distracted so easily.”

“She is also chatty.” Juudai pointed out.

“Oh, you have _no idea._ ” Shou sighed. “She already memorized some of the books I read them, well she can’t talk yet, so it’s like she says the exact sound of the words. And if I stop reading with her, she gets mad.”

Juudai laughed. So Shou had a little hyperactive girl and a smart one…. He is so tempted of getting a little red Osiris outfit for Ryoko and a Ra yellow one for Ako.

Last time he heard, Shou still keeps his old uniforms from the academy…. Maybe he can convince him to make tiny baby blazers with the fabric.

Juudai let out a soft laugh.

He’s definitely saving that idea for a picture later.

“And…. What about Yukio?” He asked with curiosity, feeling a bit weird as he said the boy’s name. “What’s he like?”

Shou stopped to think for a second, then gazed back at his friend.

“He is…. Sensitive…. _Very sensitive_.” He sighed after answering that. “He cries very easily, has a hard time with strangers and lots of things scare him…. B-but he is a sweet boy! He likes hugs, he likes being held, he likes attention…. He has quite an appetite too.”

That last part was almost a mumble.

Juudai snorted.

“Is it that bad?”

“Juudai…. I have to feed them every four hours.” Shou answers in a very deadpan voice. “But with Yukio is more like almost double portion every three hours.”

“Wait, what happens when you are asleep?” Juudai asked, tilting his head to the side.

“I wake up.”

“But what if you are tired?”

“Parents don’t get to be tired, Juudai.”

Juudai winced, he wasn’t sure how he managed to pick up on it, but he could feel Shou’s exhaustion as he said that sentence.

“Wah!”

Both men blinked and looked at Yukio.

The little boy was whining and pulling on Shou’s turtleneck.

“Oh, wait. What time is it?” Shou whispered and looked at the clock. “Shoot, I forgot about lunch!”

Juudai blinked.

“Do you…. Need any help?” He offered, his voice sounding a bit wary.

But his best friend turned to him with a quick expression of relief.

“Can you keep an eye on them?” Shou asked him. “I-it will just be like a minute! Just while I prepare their food! And you don’t need to worry about keeping them entertained! I will just put their favorite show on, so they won’t start fussing!”

“Shou!” Juudai raised his hands and laughed nervously. “It’s okay! I can watch them for you!”

The bluenette blinked.

“Oh, t-thanks.”

Right after thanking him, Shou shifted Yukio to his right arm, fishes Ako and Ryoko from their spot on the couch with the left one and stands up like it was nothing.

“Let’s go.” He told his kids with a smile and started to walk away.

Juudai took Pharaoh off his head and placed him on the floor.

“You should eat too, buddy!” The young brunette took a small can out of his backpack and opened it.

Pharaoh meowed and sat down; his tail started moving from side to side.

“Here you go.” He placed the cat food down and ruffled Pharaoh’s head.

_“Aren’t you going to eat as well?”_ Yubel’s voice echoed in Juudai’s mind.

“I’ll worry about that later!” He answered with a smile and started walking out of the living room.

He felt Yubel roll their eyes.

_“Just don’t starve.”_

* * *

Juudai was surprised, compared to the living room, the kitchen looked pretty neat and organized.

Save for a few things scattered around the table.

“My laptop’s right there, just press play.” Shou instructed as he put his kids on each of the highchairs.

Juudai did as he was told, and a video started playing.

To be honest, he kind of expected one of those shows with puppets that teach babies how to count and spell, he was pretty convinced that’s the stuff that babies were into.

However, when he sat down and peeked at the screen, he was greeted with something very different.

He noticed Ryoko cheer with joy when the Dark Magician Girl popped out with sparkles and wrote the title with her wand.

_Tales of the Dark Magician Girl._

“Bwar! Bwar!” Ako said when a dragon roared.

The screen showed what seemed to be the Dark Magician Girl, Pikeru, Blue Eyes White Dragon, and Bunilla fighting off something that looked like shadows.

Juudai was kind of impressed at how the kids seemed stunned by the show, he then smiled. Well, it was nice that to see how they already liked duel monsters.

Shou came back with a bowl of mushy baby food, Juudai saw him give a spoonful of that stuff to one kid at a time while they would make cute little gurgles and babble at their dad, as if asking him for more food.

Doing that was causing them to get a few stains all over their clothes.

“And I thought Pharaoh was a messy eater.” Juudai giggled, his friend couldn’t distract himself from feeding his kids, so he couldn’t give him a look or say anything, but the young brunette did hear a small laugh that lasted for at least a second.

Juudai also noticed how Yukio’s cheeks were starting to get stained with food, and Shou couldn’t do anything since it was Ako’s turn and she was even graving the spoon to guide it into her mouth.

Before he could even think about it, Juudai grabbed a napkin and leaned over to clean the little boy’s mouth.

Shou turned his gaze, a little surprised.

Yukio made a noise as his dad’s friend started to wipe the stains off his mouth and cheeks. To tell the truth Juudai was a bit scared of making him cry with this sudden action. However, the face the little boy was making was a bit funny.

Well… Maybe it was a little bit _too_ funny.

At first, Juudai felt bad for laughing, thinking that maybe Yukio wouldn’t like it. But when he saw the baby starting to smile as well until he let out a cute giggle.

Juudai felt too the need to giggle a little bit.

“It has barely been over an hour and you already made him laugh?” Shou sighed, it sounded so relaxed compared to his other ones. “Congrats, he likes you now.”

The brunette smirked.

“Well, who can resist my charm?” He asked, obviously smug about it.

Shou smirked too.

“Oh, I don’t know…I can think of a few people who definitely didn’t fell for it.” He said. “I might be able to make you a list later.”

“Pff, killjoy.” He scoffed. “So…. They like watching duel monsters fighting?”

“Huh?” Shou blinked and then looked back at him. “Oh, yeah. They do.”

“I’ve never seen this show before. Looks pretty good.”

“It’s a fun show.” Shou nodded. “It’s about all the magicians being in trouble, so the Dark Magician Girl and Pikeru go on a quest to save them and meet a lot of friends along the way.”

“Huh, that sound cool.” Juudai said, still looking at the screen. “Wait.”

“What is it?”

“Is that…. Edo?”

Shou turned and gazed at his laptop.

The character on the screen looked like a knight, he wore a full golden suit of armor and a red cape.

“You think so?” Shou went back to feeding his kids, but he sounded curious.

“It sounds like him.” Juudai pointed out. “And that’s supposed to be the Elemental Hero Captain Gold. I think he would be into playing a character like that.”

“…. Huh, now that you mention it, Ryou did said that Edo was bothering him about how he got casted on something.” Shou thought out loud. “I just assumed it would be like a commercial or something.”

“So, it could be him.”

“I guess?”

As if it were to clear off their doubts, the following scene had Captain Gold taking off his helmet.

Yup.

It was Edo.

And then he winked at the camera.

Both Juudai and Shou found that kind of funny, but they managed to find the will to not laugh.

However, the next scene really was about to test them.

_“Very well! It shall be my duty and my honor to go with you in this crusade! I will avenge my fallen HERO comrades by saving the magicians from the claws of the king!” Captain Gold said, holding the hand of the Dark Magician Girl, who looked back at her friends awkwardly and then back at the knight._

_“So…. We take that as a yes?” She asked, yanking her hand away before he could kiss it._

_“Of course! I will make sure to protect you, my fair ladies!”_

_“Don’t call us that.” Pikeru frowned._

_“I’m not a lady, dummy.” Bunilla gritted his teeth._

_“I apologize! I will address you from now on as my fellow teammates instead!”_

_“We literally just met you.” Blue Eyes rolled her eyes._

_“Now, onwards! My merry band!”_

_“Hey, Dee. Do we really need to bring him along?” Pikeru floated close to the Dark Magician Girl._

_She just laughed nervously and shrugged._

_“To victory!” He announced as he started marching forward, his new friends slowly following him while also sighing with annoyance._

The credits played and both men side eyed each other.

They were both thinking it.

Juudai too his hand to his mouth and tried to look away. Shou’s body started to tremble as he went back to tending his kids.

They tried to hold it in.

_They freaking tried._

But!

_A few seconds later they found themselves laughing their asses off._

“Did he seriously do that stuff with a straight face?!” The man with blue hair asked between laughs.

“He did!” Juudai almost wheezed out.

They tried to get a hold of themselves but what they had witnessed had been so stupid, it was nearly impossible to not laugh. However, what they seemed to forget is that for babies… Laugh was contagious.

A very pitchy “Pff!” sound made them freeze.

Not because it alarmed them or anything, but because it was followed by both men getting splashed with orange goo and spit.

And neither reacted, they got too distracted by the little giggles that sounded afterwards.

“Uhh…. Can I-“

“ _Yeah, go ahead._ ” Shou breathed out and slightly nodded.

Juudai walked over to the sink. Shou on the other hand, just wiped part of his face with his sleeve and kept feeding the kids.

Looks like he is in fact used to stuff like this.

After cleaning himself up and trying get a few stains of his shirt, Juudai noticed a growl coming from his stomach.

“Hey Shou! Are you hungry?” The brunette turned around and leaned back on the sink.

“…. Yeah.” He sighed, a grumbling making itself present afterwards. “We should order something.”

“You sure?” Juudai tilted his head. “I can cook something if you want.”

“Nah, it’s okay.”

“Come on!” He insisted. “I can make some of that sweet curry you like!”

Shou smiled.

His head brought back a memory of just how _good_ Juudai’s cooking really was. The young bluenette never thought of his best friend as the cooking type, and he definitely wasn’t when they first met. However, Juudai had learned a lot of stuff in his travels, and among that stuff were all sorts of great recipes. 

Though it seemed to be inevitable since one could live off take outs and instant meals for _so long._

And the offer of eating some of Juudai’s sweet curry sounded amazing.

However….

“Uh…. I don’t have a lot of ingredients right now.” Shou confessed, a bit embarrassed.

Juudai blinked.

He then walked over to the fridge and opened it.

Inside there was little more than baby food and bottles of milk.

“Shou…. When was the last time you cooked for yourself?”

The young duelist noticed how his best friend tensed up a little.

“Okay look, I was going to go and get groceries earlier today.” Shou confessed, sounding a bit defensive. “But the kids didn’t want to go out!”

_“Shou.”_

“…. I made pasta.”

“And when was that?”

“…. A while ago.” Shou almost whispered.

“Shou!”

“Oh, cut me some slack!” He complained. “The day _you_ become a single father of three I wanna see if you have any time to cook!”

Juudai frowned and crossed his arms, he was about to say something back, but the least he wanted to do was to start a fight with Shou. Specially not in front of the kids.

He started to think for a second, then an idea popped in his mind.

“Do you have any bread?” The brunette asked as he opened the fridge once again.

“Huh?” Shou could only side-eye him as he was wiping off the stains on Ako’s face. “Yeah, I think there’s some next to the stove.”

“Great!”

Shou rolled his eyes and went back to tend his daughter.

“Seriously Juudai, I can just order something.”

Juudai turned around, he had a few eggs on his hands and a wide smile on his face.

“Nope!” He giggled and made his way to the stove. “I just realized you’ve never tried my special eggwich recipe before!”

Shou smiled amusement.

“Really?” He asked, with false naivety. “Hmm…. You know what? I think I haven’t. Sounds tempting, thou, you sure I’ll like it?”

“Oh, you’ll love it.” Juudai grabbed the closest apron and tied it around his waist. “Yubel likes to possess me every now and then so they can eat it.”

“Oh, is it _that_ good?” Shou smirked. “Well, now you sold me on it.”

“Great!” He grinned as he started cooking. “It’s not the golden eggwich, but at least _I_ add some flavor!”

He silently giggled when he heard the soft sound of Shou’s laugh.

“You know…. I wonder if they really had a golden chicken or if the staff was just messing with us.”

“I mean…. Would a golden chicken really be the weirdest thing at Duel Academy?”

“…. Good point.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took me a while! But I'm happy I managed to finished it in a shorter time than the first one!
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter and if you can please comment!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Thank you so much for reading my fic, now that school is back and now that I have to balance it with work, writing will most likely become a bit harder from now on, but I still want to write it, because it makes me happy.  
> Please enjoy and review!

Juudai smirked as he added the final touches to the sandwiches, then sighed with relief as he admired just how good they looked. He grabbed both plates, one on each hand, and smiled with pride as he turned around.

“Ta-da!” He grinned. “I hope you are ready to- huh?”

The young brunette arched an eyebrow looked around.

Shou and the kids were nowhere in sight.

“Shou?” He asked, a bit loud.

“I’m over here!” He heard from afar.

Juudai walked over to the living room and found his friend sitting on the floor, watching over his kids. The triplets were crawling around the carpet all doing different things. Ako was watching the tv while Yukio was on his back kicking the toys hanging from a small arc over him, and Ryoko was chasing Pharaoh, but it seemed like he was playing with her, because at one point he stopped walking and wiggled his tail at her, which caused her to crawl fast to his direction once again.

“Hey.” Shou smiled at him.

“When did you leave?” Juudai asked, sitting down next to him, and handing out one of the plates.

“Uh…. Like twenty minutes ago, I think.” Shou accepted the sandwich as he replied. “I told you the kids needed a diaper change.”

Juudai tilted his head.

“You did?”

“Yeah.” Shou nodded. “I guess cooking makes you get in your zone.”

“Huh, now that you mention it, Pharaoh sometimes jumps on me when I cook.” Juudai blushed a little bit as he laughed. “Guess I do ignore things when it comes to making lunch.”

“And you seriously never saw a pattern there?” The young bluenette giggled at how flustered his friend was getting.

“Oh, shut up and eat your eggwich!”

With a smirk on his face, Shou took a bite of the sandwich.

“How is it?” The brunette couldn’t help but to ask, he loved to see people’s reactions after tasting his food.

“Oh my gosh.” Shou didn’t even cared if he was talking with his mouth full.

Juudai’s smile relaxed a whole lot after that, then he grinned.

Shou’s eyes glanced at him before he turned away to hide his own red-tinted cheeks.

“It’s really good.” He whispered; his voice broke for a split second.

“Dude, you sound like you are about to cry.” Juudai took a bite of his own eggwich after teasing him.

“Considering the only thing I ate today was a rice cake this morning, I just might.” Shou kept eating as if he had not said something extremely worrying.

“Oh my- Shou, are you even taking care of yourself?!” Juudai had to hiss in order to make sure he wouldn’t spook the kids.

If he could, he wouldn’t make such a big deal about it, but he just couldn’t ignore just how freaking careless his friend is!

….

Oh shit.

So, that’s how Shou feels whenever _he_ acts reckless.

“Look, I’m sorry, okay?” He sighed with annoyance. “But whenever I get a break, I can use it for either eating or sleeping, and it would be easier to make the choice if I didn’t fall asleep after five minutes of peace every time.”

Juudai’s frown softened.

“Shou, I-“

“Wah!”

Both men looked down, Juudai blinked as he saw Yukio crawling and trying to climb his dad’s lap.

Shou cradled his son with his left arm, he was about to ask him what was wrong, but the words died right in his mouth as he noticed that Yukio didn’t wanted a hug, he was trying to reach for the eggwich on Shou’s right hand.

Neither of them could stop their laughter on time.

“No.” Shou cooed and grabbed Yukio’s hand. “Sorry, jellybean, but daddy can’t share this.”

The baby whined when he saw his dad taking another bite.

“It’s okay, he can have some of mine.” Juudai suggested, stretching his arm so the sandwich would be in close proximity to Yukio.

He let out a giggle as he saw the little boy wiggling out of Shou’s arm and clumsily crawl on top of his legs while trying to reach for the eggwich.

“Juudai, wait.” The young duelist placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder.

“Huh?” He stopped laughing and turned his gaze. “What is it?”

“Yukio only has like one tooth so far; he can’t eat that. Shou explained as he grabbed his baby once again.

“Oh, shi-sorry!” He corrected himself before cursing. “Well, I’m sorry, kiddo. But your dad makes the rules!”

“Waa!” Yukio whined as he was taken away from the sandwich.

The young brunette did not expect to see the baby’s eyes to get teary. And while Shou was calmed and shushing down his son, Juudai felt his heart sink at the sight of Yukio being about to cry.

“H-hey! Don’t be like that!” He giggled, obviously out of nervousness. “Tell you what! When you grow more teeth, I’ll make you all the eggwiches that you can eat.

Shou’s sudden laughter made both his friend and his son jump in surprise.

“Careful, he might take you up on that offer.” Shou smirked and tickled the baby’s belly. “And soon you’ll be eating like a big boy! Won’t you, my little jellybean?”

“Gah!” Yukio shrieked happily.

When the baby started giggling and gurgling at his dad’s affection, Juudai could not help but to blush and smile at them.

“Hey, Shou.”

“Yes?” He stopped tickling his baby and looked directly at Juudai.

“What’s up with the nicknames?”

Shou blinked.

“…I’m sorry.” He blushed a little. “Do they bother you? I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable!”

Juudai froze.

“N-no! Of course they don’t bother me!” He stuttered out. “I’m just curious, that’s all! I just… I just never knew you were the type to use such... Sweet pet names.”

“Sweet?”

“Yeah!” Juudai grinned. “I mean, you call Yukio a “jellybean,” I heard you call Ryoko “honey,” and you literally call Ako your “sweetie” and…I don’t know, I am just curious about it. Why did you start using them? How did you even come up with them?”

Shou did not said anything, his gaze fixated on his daughters as they started crawling their way to them, maybe because they heard their nicknames and thought Juudai was calling them.

“I… I don’t know.” Shou blinked and turned to Juudai, half smiling, half confused. “I just… I just call them that, I think I have ever since they were born.”

Juudai tilted his head.

“So…. It just happened?” He asked.

“Yeah…. And you are right, their nicknames are too sappy.” Shou let out a laugh as he observed his kids starting to grab their toys and shaking them, his gaze became soft when he saw them babbling and shrieking with joy as they played. “But I guess that’s because they are just the sweetest of sweets!” He giggled.

At first Juudai blinked in surprise, but then his smile grew softer a second later.

“I guess they are…” Juudai agreed. “I guess you did used to have a thing for nicknames too.”

“I… What?”

“Yeah!” Juudai grinned. “You really didn’t notice? Ever since we met, I noticed you never called Ryou by his name, it was always “big brother” whenever you saw him.”

“Well, yeah, because that’s what he is.” Shou interrupted, he definitely started to sound defensive.

“And what about me, huh?” Juudai smirked. “Don’t remember that back then you named me your aniki?”

“Okay! I get it!” Shou blushed and looked away. “That… That was a phase, okay? I…. I’m sorry. I was such a weirdo back then… I’m sorry I made things awkward.”

The young bluenette bit his tongue as he adverted his eyes away from his best friend, it was true, he used to call Juudai his “aniki” because when they met…. He immediately behaved like the brother Shou so desperately needed. And they held that dynamic for a while, but then things started to change and they…. Well, they started to change as well.

They kept pretending things were the same, and for a while they were able to get away with it but…. At one point it just felt wrong. They never said it out loud, but they were both thinking it, they didn’t wanted that kind of relationship where one was above the other, they didn’t wanted to be a duo of a big brother and little brother anymore.

And now they were not that anymore, now they were just… Themselves.

They were Juudai and Shou.

And to tell the truth…. They like it better this way, it was tough to get there, but now they are the equals they were always meant to be, and it was really the best thing that could have happened to their friendship.

But Shou is still embarrassed about how, as a teenager, he immediately glued to what was essentially the first person that gave him positive attention in a long time.

He cannot even imagine how much he must have creeped out Juudai back then.

“Nah, I didn’t really mind it… You know, it was nice to be needed like that… And it especially nice to be considered someone’s big bro!”

Shou froze.

He turned around and saw Juudai giving him a goofy grin.

“Look, I get it. Your brother had messed you up, and you were in a bad place, don’t apologize for needing someone, okay?” Juudai spoke softly before grabbing another bite of his eggwich. “I’m glad I could be that someone!... _Well, before I messed up, at least.”_

“Y-you didn’t mess up! I… I put a lot on you.” Shou protested, a bit alarmed. “I treated you like you were a substitute of my brother, I looked at you like some kind of hero but… I should have known better! You never needed a sidekick.... You needed a friend.”

“But you _were_ my friend, Shou… _You still are._ ”

“Thanks, that’s…. That’s nice to hear.”

“Shou, I-”

_“Tah!”_

Ryoko did not seemed to notice or care there was an incredible amount of thick tension between the two men, she started tugging on Shou’s sleeve.

“What is it, honey?” The blue haired man asked, a bit glad to shift the topic.

The baby girl lifted a toy and waived it around.

Juudai blinked.

She was holding a plush doll that looked like Dark Magician Girl.

“Wait, I remember this toy!” He thought out loud. “It’s the one from the nationals, right?”

Shou nodded with a smile.

That was almost five years ago, they had decided to participate at a tournament together since they were both near that city. They invited a few friends to join them and had an amazing time together, not everyone signed up but still went to cheer their friends and then hang out at a festival that went on for as long as the tournament did.

One of those nights, they had found both Rei and Johan trying to win a prize at a booth where they had to pop balloons with darts. Rei had won a little Maiden in Love cellphone charm and Johan managed to score a cute Ruby keychain.

Both Juudai and Shou thought it would be fun to give it a try, Juudai was not interested on any of the prizes (Someone took the last Winged Kuriboh toy before he could pop his last balloon.) so he gave Shou his points, that way the bluenette managed to get enough points to score a pricey Dark Magician Girl plush doll. To thank him, Shou treated Juudai to some cotton candy and a ride to the ferris wheel…. Where a sudden wind blew away their cotton candy.

But still they had fun.

“She once saw it on my bookshelf and really wanted it so…”

“So, we have another fan of the Dark Magician Girl here, huh?”

Shou made a sour face in response to Juudai’s smirk.

He giggled, Shou’s angry face was as threatening as a bunny.

“You know… We should go again some time, I bet they would love it.”

“Huh?” Shou stopped pouting and seemed confused.

“To the nationals.” Juudai clarified and then looked at the kids. “Even if it’s just the festival, I bet the kids would love it.”

“I’ll see about that.” Shou said as he tried to look behind Juudai. “Hey, could you pass me that puppet over there?”

Juudai turned around and noticed the green glove-like toy, he grabbed it and gave it to Shou.

“I’ve never seen this monster before.” He commented as he stared curiously at the puppet.

“That’s because it’s just a dinosaur puppet.”

“Oh…. Kenzan?”

“Yup.” Shou nodded. “Also, please don’t judge me too hard for what I’m about to do.”

The young duelist didn’t say anything and just watched as his best friend put the puppet in his hand and started waving it around and making silly monster noises.

“Help!” Shou said in a tone that was too silly to sound serious. “The Dino King! He broke free and it’s eating my arm!”

Ryoko giggled and started to hit the puppet with her doll.

“Bah!” She shrieked as if she was trying to say, _“Take that!”_

It wasn’t long before her siblings joined on the fun as well.

Ako grabbed a little Blue Eyes White Dragon plush and started to hit Shou’s arm while Yukio shook his Gyroid plushie.

Shou was laughing but Juudai couldn’t help to notice that some of the hits were landing on his friend’s face. So, instead of interrupting them, he grabbed a dolphin toy seating right next to him and rushed it to the puppet’s side.

“Oh no! The evil wizard just sided with the king!” Juudai tried to sound dramatic. “What ever shall we do?!”

Before he could even think of another line, Juudai had a big toy colliding with his face, as he fell back he listened to the sound of giggles and babbles, which made it obvious as to who did it.

He took the toy off his face and looked at it, it was Cyber Dragon.

“Bwaar!” Ako tried to grab it and lift it again, but the three headed plush was too much for her baby arms, still she didn’t give up.

Juudai giggled and decided to make things easier for the little girl, he made the dolphin plush clash with one of the dragon heads and pretended to get hit with a powerful attack.

“Oh no! My only weakness: Dying!” Juudai smirked and winked at Shou.

To make it more dramatic, he made sure to lean on his friend and stick his tongue out as he pretended to lose consciousness.

“And now my weakness!” Shou lifted the puppet and made it talk as Juudai brought him down. “The smell of dead fish!”

“Dolphins aren’t fish.”

“I don’t care, I’m dying!”

The bluenette also pretended to faint, all while making a short lived “Bleh!” sound.

“…. When can I move again?” Juudai whispered, he neither moved nor opened his eyes.

“Give it a minute…. But if you hear sniffles, open your eyes!” Shou whispered back.

“Got it.”

Both men tried really hard to not laugh as they felt the tiny hands touching their faces.

But when Juudai felt a pull on his cheek, he couldn’t help himself, he opened his eyes and saw Ryoko.

“Uwa?”

“Yup, I’m alive.” He giggled. “Thanks for saving me, little monkey.”

His giggle prolonged after hearing her shriek with joy.

“Tah!” She grabbed Juudai’s nose.

“Okay, you can stop that now, monkey.” The brunette grabbed the baby and lifted her away from his face.

“Gah!” She shrieked happily again.

“I think she likes it.”

Juudai sat up and looked at his side, Shou was still laying down, but he had to open his eyes as he noticed Yukio grabbing his glasses and Ako tugging his hair.

“Likes what?” Juudai blinked.

“The nickname.” Shou sat up and took the babies off his face with a hug. “Did you see how she reacted when you started calling her that?”

“What? Monkey?” Juudai tilted his head.

“Tah!”

Juudai froze.

Ryoko had thrown herself at him and started gripping on the collar of his shirt.

She was giving him a hug.

“You liked that, huh?” Juudai tried to relax and smile. “You know…. You do act a lot like a little monkey cub!”

Shou’s smile became warmer when he saw Juudai putting his arms delicately around the baby.

“You were right.” The young brunette giggled. “These nicknames… They just happen.”

Shou let out a soft laugh.

“Yeah…. Well, unless you are Ryou.”

Juudai found that comment interesting.

“Why do you say that?”

“He gets flustered and annoyed if someone tries to encourage to call the kids by anything other than their names.” Shou explained. “It specially upsets him when Fubuki insists that he calls Ako “his little dragon”, but he doesn’t like to appear angry in front of the kids, so he always ends up looking kind of… Constipated.”

“Pff! Please tell me you have a video of that!”

“I don’t.”

“Aw man.”

_“But Fubuki does”_

Juudai grinned at Shou’s smirk.

“Remind me to ask him about it the next time I visit them.”

“Yeah, about that… You’ll have to wait until they get back from the mountains.”

“The mountains?” Juudai tilted his head. “Are they having like a second honeymoon or something?”

“Nah, Ryou just decided that it was time to re-open the Cyber Dojo, and he wanted to make sure things were running smoothly for a while.” He shook his head. “Fubuki wanted to go ski and decided to tag along.”

“What about the Cyber League?”

“Well, I’m still on paternity leave, but I’m pretty sure everything is fine.” Shou shrugged. “You do remember that it’s not just my brother and I handling everything anymore, right?”

“Oh, right.” Juudai giggled and scratched the back of his head. “I totally forgot about that.”

“I think they are preparing the registrations for the winter tournaments right now… I don’t know, I’m pretty sure it will go well.”

“It’s weird to see you all relaxed about it, last time I saw you organizing a tournament, you were freaking out.” Juudai commented with intrigue.

“I guess I normally do that but… Look, I had to come to terms that as much as I want to work and be a father at the same time…” Shou looked a bit down for a second. “It’s just not possible right now.”

Juudai frowned.

He could tell Shou missed his job.

“B-but it’s okay!” Shou forced out a laugh and shook his head. “I’ll just keep trusting my brother and our team and… Keep my focus on these little angels!”

Both Ako and Yukio shrieked with joy at the sudden hug.

Juudai smiled, he agreed with Shou but… He couldn’t help but to wonder if he could go back to working at the Cyber League if there was someone there to help him out with the kids.

“Hey Shou… I-I was wonderi-”

A loud sniff caught him off guard.

“Hold on.” Shou interrupted him with a sigh. “Someone needs a change.”

Juudai blinked.

“Huh?”

“Yeah, this is what happens when _a little someone_ eats so much.” He nuzzled Yukio’s hair and tried to put Ako back on the carpet.

“Gah!” The little girl protested and clung to her dad’s arm.

“What is it?” Shou asked her in confusion. “It will be just a minute.”

She babbled and tightened her grip.

“Oh, alright.” Shou rolled his eyes. “Guess it’s a good thing I can change a diaper with one hand.”

“Um…” Juudai murmured. “Do… Do you need any help with Yukio?”

“Huh? Nah, I got it, but…”

“But?”

“Could you keep an eye on Ryoko? Just for a minute?”

“Y-yeah! Sure!”

Shou’s lips curled on a grateful smile.

“Thanks, Juudai, you are a lifesaver.” He stood up. “Let’s go!”

Juudai forced out a smile until Shou was out of sight, then he took a deep breath.

Okay, he’s going to look out after one of Shou’s babies…. Alone.

But it will only be for a few minutes! What’s the worst that could happen?

“So, what do you…. Where did you go?”

He looked around and catched a glimpse of Ryoko trying to crawl out of the living room, she was probably trying to follow her dad.

“Woah, there!” Juudai caught up to her quickly and used his arm to block her path.

“Wah?” She stopped and looked at him in confusion.

“Uh… Shou wants us to wait here, so…. Why don’t you and I play some more?!”

Juudai grabbed Ryoko’s doll and then dangled it around for a bit to call for her attention.

The baby stared at her toy for a second before giggling and extending her arms out to her dad’s friend.

Juudai grinned, he actually managed to get her attention!

“Heh… You really are a fan of her, aren’t you?” He didn’t even need to ask, as soon as he picked her up, Ryoko grabbed her doll and gave it a hug. “You know… Your dad likes her a lot too.”

“Tah!” She giggled.

“Hehe, it’s true!” Juudai grinned. “And… You know what? She actually likes him a lot too! We both met her once!”

“Uwa?”

“I know it sounds weird, but trust me, monkey cub.” He delighted in the way she cheered after he used that nickname again. “Your dad and I have _a lot_ of stories from our first school year alone.”

The way she shook her doll made it obvious which story she was interested in the most.

“Yeah, meeting Dark Magician Girl was a lot of fun!” Juudai grinned. “I got to duel her and… Well, Shou got a kiss.”

“Uwa?” Ryoko tilted her head.

“Yeah, like I said, she liked him. I mean… Why wouldn’t she?” He started thinking. “Back then your dad was a really cute boy…. I-I mean, he still is…. W-well he’s not a boy anymore, but he’s still cute!”

Juudai could feel his cheeks heating up.

“Wah?”

After looking at the baby’s blank stare, Juudai decided to take a deep breath and calm down.

“I saw her again one day after I dueled…. Someone important, I was going to tell Shou, but I guess I forgot because we were both freaking out about my duel.” Juudai said, he sounded kind of quieter when compared to before. “I’m sure she probably still likes him… Or would like him even more if she saw him again but…. Well, who knows?”

“Uwa?”

“You know what? I’m sure you’ll get to meet your favorite monsters one day.” He laughed. “Maybe you will also get to have your own adventures with your brother and sister…. Would you like that, monkey?”

“Tah!”

Juudai grinned when he felt the baby girl hugging him again.

“Aww, I guess you are going to be a little adventurer!” He giggled. “Oh, maybe one day you will get to duel an actual monkey just like me!”

“Uwa?”

“Well, it wasn’t a normal monkey… Well, he was but he waaaa what the-”

Juudai lifted the toddler off his chest, that’s when he realized that the reason why his shirt felt suddenly wet was due to Ryoko vomiting on him.

“A-a… I…” He didn’t know what to do.

Then he realized.

“H-hey, S-shou!” He looked away and tried to sound as relaxed as possible.

“Yeah?!” Oh good, he heard him.

“I-I got a- ” He got interrupted by Ryoko accidentally launching another puke-bomb on him. “Shou! Ryoko is throwing up and I don’t know what to do!”

“Oh shi- Okay, don’t freak out! I’m almost done over here!” Shou yelled back. “Just rub her back and don’t freak out! I’ll be there in a sec.”

“O-okay.” Juudai looked at the baby and made an awkward smile as he started to gently rub and pat her back. “There, there. It’s alright.”

“Blegh!”

_“… Oh my gosh, Shou, please hurry up_.” He whispered.

* * *

**And that’s another chapter done! I hope you all enjoyed and please review!**

**Also! I thought it would be nice to include a doodle of my designs of Juudai and Shou as adults!**

****

**Thank you for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really apologize for the waiting, school and work got crazy as soon as midterm and essay season started. I really appreciate everyone who has been reading, thank you so much I wish I could just write chapters faster.  
> Writing this story makes me happy, so I won't be abandoning it for anything, however, time is not exactly a luxury I can give myself, still I will keep working hard to keep writing!   
> Please enjoy and review!

“ _Oh my gosh_.” Shou breathes out as he walks in. “Are you okay?!”

Juudai turned around, he was holding Ryoko with both hands and making sure she wasn’t near the vomit stain in his shirt.

No matter how she was extending her little hands to reach for him.

“Y-yeah! She’s okay!” Juudai tried to laugh, but he was so uncharacteristically nervous, he was obviously desperate. “Just a little vomit…. Apparently, but I didn’t mean to, I swear! I don’t know what happened!”

“Juudai.”

“Well, maybe I picked her up a bit too fast…”

“Juudai.”

“But I promise you, I didn’t mean to!”

_“Juudai!”_

“W-what?!” He spat out nervously.

“Calm down.” Shou placed his hand on Juudai’s arm and tried to smile. “It’s okay, babies sometimes just throw up out of nowhere. Don’t worry about it.”

“O-oh… Well, then I guess that’s… That’s a relief.” Juudai couldn’t help but to blush a little.

“Yeah.” Shou smirked and offered his free arm. “It’s okay, I got you.”

The young bluenette wasn’t looking at his daughter when he said that last bit, he was looking at his friend.

Juudai hands him back his baby and brushes a strand of hair behind his ear. It caused him to feel just how much he was blushing thanks to how warm his ears felt, so he took a small breath to calm down.

“I’m so sorry about… Well, Ryoko puking on you.”

Juudai looked down at the damage, unsure of what to say or do.

A giggle makes him look up.

Ryoko is still trying to reach for him, babbling and waving her little arms, he couldn’t help but to smile, it was a relief she didn’t look upset or sick.

But then he noticed that Shou also had a stain on his shirt.

“What happened to you?”

“Huh?” Shou blinked.

The young brunette pointed at his friend’s chest.

“Oh…. That.” Shou mumbles right after staring down.

“Yeah what’s tha-”

“It’s pee.”

Juudai blinks at that.

“Oh….” Juudai looks away for a second, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. “So…”

“You can borrow my shower, if that’s what you are about to ask.”

“ _Yes, thank you so much._ ” He breathes out. “Wait, your shower? I can just use the guest bathroom.”

Shou laughed softly and shook his head.

“Only if you don’t mind getting all the toys out of the bathtub.”

“Well, I could-”

“Nah, it’s okay.” He interrupts him before he can offer to clean up that mess. “We need a bath anyways.”

“Bah!” Ako shrieked with a giggle, which caused her father to laugh as well.

“That’s right, sweetie. We need a bath.” He cooed at her.

Juudai tilted his head a bit.

“We?”

Shou laughed and nodded.

“Hey, I was already getting splashed whenever I gave them a bath.” He shrugs, the movement of his shoulder made the babies laugh. “It’s easier this way, trust me.”

“Oh….” Juudai wasn’t sure of what to answer.

“Do you need to borrow a shirt or something?” The young duelist asked but his best friend had already reached for his own bag.

“Nope!” He answered as he buried his arm into the backpack. “I actually just did laundry yesterday.”

The brunette smiled when he managed to pull out his pajamas.

Shou winced.

“Oh… Sorry.” He mumbled, feeling embarrassed for messing that up for him. “When you are done showering, I’ll make sure to wash that for you.”

“You don’t have to, I-”

“It’s not a problem, I actually have some laundry too.” Shou dismissed his protest. “Not to mention, I also need to take care of _this_.” He pointed at his own shirt.

“Oh… Right…. Well, I’ll just-”

“Aa!”

Juudai looked down and noticed that Ryoko was stretching her arm to reach out to him, he didn’t move because he wasn’t sure of what to do. What if he makes her throw up again?!

He turned his head when I heard Shou’s almost silent laugh.

“I guess she doesn’t want you to go to the shower.”

“Huh?”

“Tah!”

The bluenette duelist smirked as he tried to control his giggle.

“Yeah, she can be clingy once she likes to be with someone.” Shou’s tone revealed a faint hint of amusement. “Don’t worry about it, go take your shower.”

“O-okay, thanks!” Juudai laughed nervously. “I’ll be right back and-”

“Relax, Juudai. I’m not going to hurry you.” Shou shook his head. “You remember where my room is, right?”

“Yeah, I do.” Juudai nodded.

“Call if you need anything, okay?” Shou started to walk away.

“Thanks!” Juudai said as he rushed to his friend’s room, making sure to not let his clean clothes touch the stain on his shirt.

_“Why were you so scared of the little one?”_

Juudai froze after hearing Yubel’s voice, his fingers barely brushed the doorknob. He stood still for a couple of seconds before shaking his head and opening the door.

“What? I wasn’t scared?” He forcibly smiled and tried to wave their comment off.

_“You cowered right after she called for your attention._ ” The spirit pointed out.

“Because I didn’t want to make her sick!” He almost hissed in response, closing the door to make sure there wasn’t a way for Shou to hear him.

_“How would you even get her sick?”_

“I-I don’t know!” He turned on the water and waited for it to get warm. “But… But I need to be careful, you know? What if I make her throw up again? Or what if I hurt her? Or any of them for that matter?! They are…. So small and fragile.”

_“You were small and fragile once too.”_ Yubel reminded him, their voice sounded a bit softer. _“And you were fine every time you jumped from a tree.”_

“That’s different!” Juudai almost laughed. “Dropping a baby from a tree is dangerous!”

_“So, were you about to drop her?”_

“What the- No! I would never-”

_“Then why are you acting like a coward about it?!”_

“Because I-.... I’m not sure, okay?” He sighed. “I guess it’s because they are so precious to Shou, okay? You saw how much he adores them! And…. If I hurt them then that means I would hurt him too, and…. I don’t wanna do that.”

_“If you don’t want to hurt them, then just don’t.”_

“It’s not that simple.” Juudai sighed, he tested the water and realized it was warm enough.

_“I don’t understand you.”_

“Yeah, I don’t get it either. I guess… I guess I’m just new to this. I mean, just a few hours ago I didn’t know Shou was a dad and…. Now I want to be there for him, but what if he doesn’t let me?”

_“Why don’t you just ask him?”_

“Because I wasn’t there when he started… _this!_ What if he doesn’t want me there now?!”

_“He seems happy with you here.”_

“But what if I offer to help him out and he gets mad at me?”

_“Kind of sounds like you want him to get mad at you.”_

“I don’t!” He huffed.

_“Then why don’t you just ask?”_

“B-because he’s busy right now!”

_“I meant later.”_

Juudai could feel Yubel annoyance in the way they rolled their eyes.

He couldn’t deny it, they had a point…

Still, he pouted and refused to comment on that.

* * *

As the towel roamed through his hair, Juudai kept trying to prove to Yubel that asking if he could help out Shou was impossible.

“And what if I’m overstepping? I literally just found out about the kids today, why would he even want my help?!”

_“In that case, you aren’t going to ask him?”_

“Of course, I will!” Juudai took off the towel as he answered, for those who couldn’t see spirits, it would look like he’s arguing with his reflection. “Did you see how tired he was?! He can barely stay awake!”

_“What makes you say that?”_

“I saw him zooning out after we did the puppet thing, he must be so dead inside!” The young brunette pointed out. “If he keeps doing this alone, he might end up sick! And then there would be no one to take care of him or the kids! I can’t let that happen! Shou is my best friend!”

_“Juudai…. I really don’t know what the point of this conversation even is anymore.”_

For a second it seemed as if he was going to say something but then his mouth just stopped, he looked at himself in the mirror and sighed with tiredness.

“Yeah…. Neither do I.” He took off the hair-tie off his wrist and started to tie his long hair in a low ponytail. “Maybe you were right and I’m just a little scared of asking him if…. If Shou even wants me around.”

_“…. Do you want me to ask him in your place?”_

Juudai laughed softly and shook his head.

“Thanks but… I have to do this on my own.... Shou deserves at least that.”

And after putting the towel back on the hanger, Juudai opened the door and stepped out of the bathroom.

“I guess there’s nothing to lose, right?” He asked in a mumble. “I mean, it’s just a question, right? I’ll just go to him and say- wait, what?”

The young brunette stopped walking as soon as he saw that Shou was in the room as well, but he was sleeping over the covers of his bed and with an arm around Ryoko, who seemed fast asleep as well. Juudai bit his tongue before he could make another sound and then closed the bathroom door behind him as quietly as possible.

Or maybe he didn’t because, with a sharp breath, Shou woke up all of the sudden.

“I-I’m up! I’m up!” The bluenette raised his head and took off his glasses so he could rub his eyes with his sleeve.

“Sorry!” Juudai whispered, he sounded a bit alarmed. “I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s okay!” Shou interrupts him, waving an arm in the air.

He sits up and puts his glasses back up, then looks down.

“Oh, honey.” The young duelist cooed at his sleeping baby. “I guess you were tired after all, weren’t you?”

Juudai smiled as he walked closer to the bed, he quickly noticed how Ryoko was hugging her Dark Magician Girl doll while she slept.

“It’s so hard to get her to rest.” Shou grinned as he cradled her in his arms very slowly, making sure to not disturb her dreams. “She didn’t want to get into the crib until she could play some more with you, but… I guess sleep got to her first, huh?”

“Yeah…” Juudai nodded, unsure of what to say.

“I’ll go tuck her in, bring your t-shirt so I can wash it afterwards.” Shou stepped out of the bed and tried to accommodate his arms when he felt his daughter squirming.

“You know I can do that for you, right?” The brunette asked, picking up his shirt and walking next to his friend.

“True, but I also left a basket of dirty laundry at the nursery.” He pointed out. “Ryoko wouldn’t stop fussing, so I had to get her to sleep for the night.”

Juudai blinked.

“Wait, how long was I gone?”

“Juudai, it’s like 8:30.” Shou giggled a bit. “Babies need to sleep early. If I take them off schedule, then…. I will probably never sleep again.”

Juudai was no stranger to hearing Shou’s deadpan voice, but wow, the way he said that was a whole new level.

“That… that sounds like a lot.” The young brunette almost winced.

Shou shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“Eh, it kinda is but you get used to it.” Shou nodded. “If you want, we can watch something while the washing machine is on.”

“Sounds good.” Juudai nodded and then noticed that Shou stopped in front of the guest room’s door. “Oh, let me get that for you.”

The bluenette thanked him and let him open the door, when Juudai walked in, he looked at what seemed to be the kids’ nursery now.

“That’s…. A lot of stars.” He smiled, looking at the ceiling.

“Yeah.” Shou whispered, carefully placing Ryoko on her little crib. “I… Didn’t felt comfortable leaving in the dark, but I was also afraid of plugging in a nightlight. It’s a good thing Fubuki already had these stickers lying around.”

“Wait.” Juudai his head at him. “So, does that mean his and Ryou’s room also has stars that glow in the dark?”

“Honestly, the way my brother denied it so quickly leads me to believe that it does.” He laughed softly, covering the baby with a blanket right before giving her a kiss in the forehead. “Still, I’m glad because I was going insane on how I was going to make the nursery look special after my landlady didn’t let me repaint it.”

“I think it looks nice.” Juudai poked a toy from one of the three mobiles, it was a Winged Kuriboh. “Must have been a lot of work to get it done.”

“Oh, assembling the cribs was a nightmare, that’s for sure.” Shou whispered and nodded. “Just look at this mess, it’s like one but also three at the same time!”

Juudai smirked at him and when he noticed, Shou stopped ranting and pouted a bit.

But then he smiled softly.

“Maybe it was for the best that I didn’t paint.” When Shou looked up, Juudai did too.

He couldn’t help but to admire how the dark blue walls and ceiling made the darkness of the night and the glowing stars stand out.

“I had read something about pastel colors being calming for kids but then the sellers tried to convince me to “color code” them.” He made air quotes with his fingers, obviously sounding annoyed. “But I just couldn’t wrap my head around that, what if they don’t like their assigned color?!”

“Wait, people do that?” Juudai tilted his head. “Like…. How the academy did to us?”

“Yeah!”

“That’s so weird.”

“Yup…. A-and they were just offering shades of pink! They would shut me up whenever I asked for other colors!” Shou whispered, starting to look around for the laundry basket.

“Why just pink?” Juudai decided to help.

After looking for a few seconds, he found the basket and pointed at it, making sure his friend saw it.

“Oh, thanks… But yeah, when the first ultrasound was done, the doctor assumed the three of them were girls.” He kneeled and grabbed it. “Also said they would be born after New Year’s but… Well, you know kids. Nobody tells them what to do.”

Juudai smiled a bit.

“Sounds like you were in for a lot of surprises, huh?” As he said that, he put his shirt inside the laundry basket and then took it from Shou’s hands.

The bluenette seemed a bit surprised by this action but he still ended thanking him with a quiet laugh.

“Oh, you bet I was.” He stretched his arm so he could open the door for Juudai. “I felt my heart stopping for a second when I found out I was having triplets.”

The young brunette laughed as the two of them walked by the hall.

“Did you faint? Juudai asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Eh, almost did, actually.” He shrugged. “Guess I didn’t because I knew it was a possibility… But man, I was a wreck during every medical checkup.”

“You were about to be a dad, I’m pretty sure that gives you the right to be an anxious mess.” Juudai reassured him with a smile.

“I guess… Oh, wait, let me get that for you.” Shou opened another door and encouraged Juudai to walk into the laundry room.

He stood there with the basket in his hands as he observed his friend put the clothes in the washing machine one by one.

“Hey, Shou…” Juudai started, his voice sounding significantly lower.

“Yeah?”

“I’m…” He swallowed before continuing. “I’m sorry.”

Shou stopped his task and turned with a surprised expression.

“For what?” He asked, tilting his head to the side.

“For… You know.” The young brunette looked away for a moment, blushing a little. “Taking too long to drop by.”

Shou stared at him for a second, confused, but the blinked that emotion away and smiled.

“It’s okay.” He answered with a sincere tone, and then smirked as he resumed with the laundry. “I’m just glad to see you… And glad that you are not injured.”

Juudai couldn’t help it, he laughed at that comment.

“That was one time!” He almost choked with laughter.

Right after he poured the detergent into the machine, he turned around with a mock-stern expression and pointed at Juudai’s nose.

“ _Three._ It was three times!” He hissed with a smirk.

Juudai was about to laugh more but instead he stuck out his tongue.

“Oh, come on!” He whispered loudly. “The other two weren’t that serious!”

Shou rolled his eyes and turned around, pressed a couple of buttons, and closed the lid.

“Keep telling yourself that.” He mumbled before turning once again and sighed with tiredness. “Well! Can we just go and watch tv or do you want to keep argue about how reckless you are?”

Juudai placed the basket aside and with a smirk he made a mock vow and signaled the door with his hands.

“After you.”

Shou giggled as he walked through the door.

“So charming.” He teased his friend.

* * *

“Then I asked him if he wanted to hold one and he was like ‘I’m not touching your smelly, little beasts!’…. Honestly, I kind of expected it from him.” Shou said with a long, exhausted, sigh as he let himself fall on the couch.

The young brunette sat right next to him and snickered.

“You teased him about being afraid, didn’t you?” He asked, the way his friend smiled told him the answer right away.

“You know me so well.” Shou said as he tried to reach from a blanket that was at the other side of the couch. “But yeah, I did…. I also asked if he was too scared of getting a bit of drool on his jacket. He got pissed.”

Juudai laughed, it’s been a while since he saw Shou and Manjoume bicker as if they were still teenagers.

“So, he was then like ‘I’m not afraid of anything!’ and took Ako from me.” Shou continued as he covered himself with the blanket and snuggled next to Juudai. “After like five seconds he yelled at me.”

“What?”

“He walked to the door and was like ‘Slacker! Grab your other two spawns and get to my car!’ and the next thing I knew, he took me shopping for birthday gifts for the kids.” He slightly moved as he noticed Juudai also grabbing a piece of the blanket.

“Honestly, I would be surprised if it went any other way.”

“At least it went better than with Kenzan, that’s for sure.” Shou mumbled with an annoyed tone.

“Why? Did he not like the kids?” Juudai asked curiously.

“Oh, no. He was excited to meet them.” The young bluenette shook his head. “But the idiot did _the teeth thing_ and scared the shit out of them!”

Juudai winced, he could already picture the incident. Kenzan probably tried to apologize after making the babies cry while Shou stared at him with a “Thanks a lot, bitch.” kind of look.

It sounds like a funny picture.

… One he kinda wishes he could have seen instead of imagining.

The young brunette decided to ignore that feeling of regret, and just focused where he was right now.

“So? What do you wanna watch?” He asked, showing his friend the remote.

“Mmm…. Can we watch something with curses?” He asked after staying quiet for a moment. “I miss cursing.”

Juudai nodded, fighting hard to not let out a giggle, it might be due to how tired Shou sounds or because he’s curled right next to him with his eyes closed, but that was adorable as hell.

“You sure you don’t want to go to sleep?” He asked after finally picking a channel.

“I’m fine.” Shou mumbled, he did not open his eyes. “Laundry isn’t gonna do itself, you know?”

“I can do that for you if you just let me.” Juudai suggested, purposefully using a bit of a nagging tone of voice.

“Nah.” Shou dismissed the idea. “I’ll go to sleep after I put everything in the dryer.”

Juudai sighed softly, there was no reasoning whenever Shou got stubborn, that’s something they share in common.

“Still, you better let me help you out.”

Of any answer his friend could have given him, Juudai didn’t expected to receive a tired laugh, or the feeling of a body snuggling closer to him.

“Aww… You care a lot.” Shou opened his eyes a little bit and smiled.

“Of course, I do, dummy.” Juudai grinned and then stuck his tongue out at him.

“Don’t call me dummy, you dummy.” Shou giggled tiredly. “You know… I’m glad you are here…. I missed you.”

Juudai’s heart almost skipped a beat when he heard those words, but instead of paying attention to that, he just smiled, his cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

“I missed you too.” Juudai let his head fall to the side and be supported by Shou’s.

The bluenette let out a soft laugh, he didn’t seem to mind if they stayed like that.

Which was a good thing if you asked Juudai….

Because being like that with Shou felt just…. Nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s another chapter done! I hope you all enjoyed it! Thank you for your patience, and please review!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I know it’s been a while, but my final papers and exams wouldn’t even let me think about writing this chapters. But now I am free to write! I truly appreciate your patience and I hope this chapter is worth the wait.  
> Thank you so much for reading.  
> Please enjoy and review!

_“Juudai.”_

“Mmm…”

_“Juudai.”_

The young brunette groaned as he felt his shoulder being slightly shaken.

_“Juudai, wake up.”_

“Mmm?”

Even if he had not opened his eyes, the gentle giggle he had just heard had told him that his friend was smiling.

“You can stay and sleep here if you want.” Shou’s voice was heard again in the form of a whisper. “Just let go of me.”

Juudai just groaned again, this time his eyelids moved a bit. However, it seems that he was refusing to open them.

“I need to finish the laundry, Juudai.” Shou sighed and tried shaking his friend one more time, still gently but a bit harder than the last time. “Come ooooon.”

As he heard his friend whine in annoyance, Juudai felt something squirm against his body.

He slowly opened his eyes, feeling the tiredness making it harder than usual.

The brunette could not help but to blink, as the first sight to greet him were a pair of grey orbs. After a few seconds of processing his thoughts, Juudai realized what had just happened.

He had fallen asleep on the couch with Shou in his arms.

The young bluenette seemed to notice that his best friend was still out of it, so he sighed and let out a soft, tired, laugh.

“Hey there, sleepy head.”

Juudai could feel his ears and face getting warmer.

“S-sorry!” He whispered, loosing his grip on his friend to finally letting him go.

“It’s fine.” Shou chuckled at his sudden nervousness. “Guess we were both tired after all, huh?”

“Yeah…” He mumbled, still feeling embarrassed. “Sorry, thou. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“Nah, I don’t blame you.” Shou said while pulling the hair tie off his crooked ponytail, turning away from Juudai a bit. “The movie was so boring.”

Juudai did not do anything to acknowledge that statement, instead, he blinked at Shou. He knew that his hair was long, it has always been…. But he cannot remember the last time he had seen his best friend untie his hair ever since he started wearing that ponytail.

He was not sure why, but he could feel his mouth become dry as he observed Shou brushing back the long blue stripes of hair and pulling them back into place.

Had Shou’s ponytail always gone all the way to his lower back?

“Juudai?”

The young brunette snapped out of it when he noticed that Shou was now staring at him with a puzzled look.

“Y-yeah! I guess it was!” He laughed as he scratched the back of his head.

Shou just blinked at his friend’s sudden nervousness, but it was brief as he remembered there was something he’s supposed to be doing right now.

“Well! I guess I should finish doing the laundry, sorry I had to wake you up.” He stood up. “Oh! I guess I should get you a blanket. Wait here, I have some clean ones at the laundry room and-”

“W-wait!” Juudai jumped out of the couch.

“Huh?”

“I can help with that.”

After freezing for a second at how quickly Juudai had reacted, Shou was about to roll his eyes and oppose to the idea.

But knowing Juudai…. There is just no way to discourage him from something, so he might as well just oblige.

The dumb brunette had always been so persistent…. And to tell the truth, he misses being around that.

So, he should enjoy every moment he gets to experience Juudai’s excitement for helping.

“Thanks.” He smiled warmly. “I really appreciate it.”

Shou did not expected Juudai to give him a bright smile in return. So, not knowing what to do, he just turned his gaze so his friend would not be able to see how his face started flushing.

He had barely gotten it under control after finding himself in Juudai’s embrace just a few minutes ago…. Seriously, he was a blushing mess back there.

 _God…_ He could not allow himself to feel like that anymore. Juudai does not need that kind of awkwardness right now.

_And he has kids to look after!_

Shou cannot be out there behaving like some lovestruck teenager if he wants to be a responsible father!

But there goes Juudai! Always being so cute without realizing it! Doesn’t he realize that his stupid charm makes Shou forget how to breathe?!

The young bluenette exhaled softly, doing his best to stop thinking about his friend’s perfect smile.

“So….”

He blinked and turned his head to the person walking right next to him.

“Yeah?” He asked, noticing how apprehensive Juudai looked all of the sudden.

_Oh shit…. Did he hear the mess going on inside his head?!_

“Well…” Juudai smiled sheepishly. “I was thinking….”

“Yes?”

“Uh…Well…”

“Yes?”

“I…. Noticed how you don’t have a lot of time to take care of yourself anymore and-”

“This again?” Shou tried to not sound annoyed but it was evident how he felt. “Juudai, I already told you, I’m fine.”

“But-“

“No buts!” Shou’s whisper became significantly louder. “You don’t have anything to worry about. Just because I lose some sleep and a few meals, it doesn’t mean that-”

“Shou.” Juudai crossed his arms.

The young bluenette froze for a second and realized what he had just said.

“Okay, yeah, I made it sound bad.”

“Yeah! You-”

“But my point is.” He sighed, trying to relax. “I’ve been doing this for months and everything is fine.”

“Yeah, but-”

“Look, it’s nice to see that you care so much, but I’m-”

_“Shou!”_

Gray eyes snapped wide open.

Shou wanted to say something but the words died right on his throat as he felt his shoulders being grabbed and lightly shaken.

“I-” Juudai hesitated before speaking, making his friend realize just how he was so afraid to say the wrong thing.

“I know you are doing fine.” Juudai whispered. “Fuck, dude, you are doing incredible! You are an awesome dad and I’m proud of you, but….”

“But?” Shou asked tentatively, noticing how Juudai was starting to choke on his own words.

“But I care about you!” He breathed out. “A-and I care about your kids too! E-even thou I just met them today! A-and I had no idea they existed until a few hours ago, they are-…. They are wonderful, okay? I can tell they mean everything to you… This is the happiest I’ve ever seen you.”

“Juudai, I-”

“So!” He blurted out, interrupting him. “I…. I wanna help. I want to be there for you… O-only if you think it’s okay!”

“Juudai, you-”

“Oh, shit, sorry.” Juudai blinked. “That was too much, wasn’t it? S-sorry! I didn’t mean to make it sound-”

“Juudai, I-”

“Look, I know it should not be my decision to make.” Juudai sighed. “I just thought-”

“Juudai, I’m-”

“I’m sorry, Shou. It’s just…” He sighed again. “It’s just that with all the stuff you gotta do, all the changes…. I was just trying to help.”

“Juudai.”

“I thought it’s the least I could do since-”

Juudai’s mess of an explanation was cut off the second he felt Shou’s hand on his cheek. He blushed, his face was burning brighter than before, and he wanted to do something to stop it…. But he could not.

The young duelist was frozen in place, feeling a bit mad at himself for not being able to act like the adult he supposedly was.

“Calm down, okay?” Shou giggled silently.

Closing his eyes for a moment, the brunette took a deep breath. Then, as he slowly opened his eyes again, he was greeted with a smirk.

“Look, it’s nice that you care so much…” Shou started, doing his best to sound calming in order to soothe his panicked friend. “And having you around is great but…”

“But?” Juudai asked tentatively, he felt his own hand twitch as Shou retired his own from his face.

Juudai could not help but to mentally smack himself for not reacting sooner, that way he could have gently put his hand over Shou’s.

As soon as he finished that thought, he flinched as he felt Yubel smirking at him.

_Oh, they were definitely enjoying this._

“I… Don’t want you to feel like you owe me something.”

The brunette blinked.

“Juudai, what happened to us…. It wasn’t your fault or anything. It was…. Just life.” Shou mumbled. “I never hated you for it, so _please_ , don’t beat yourself over it…. Please? We are here, we are together right now…. Isn’t that what matters?”

It was…

That’s what Juudai wanted to answer, but he didn’t know if he should say it. In fact, he just did not know what to say.

…. Was it that obvious to Shou that Juudai felt bad for disappearing for so long?

“And yeah, I’m a freaking mess right now.” Shou sighed, still smiling, but this time he rolled his eyes. “But it’s fine! I knew what I was getting into before the kids were even born…. If they are happy… Then I’m happy too, okay?”

Shou had successfully sounded relaxed as he said that, however, nothing could prepare him for the flinch he felt when Juudai placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I understand that’s how you feel, but…. I still want to be there for you… I know it sounds stupid but, I want to help you.”

Juudai sighed with a small smile.

“Of course, only if you let me.”

Now it was Shou’s turn to feel frozen in place.

But it did not last long, because he then surprised Juudai with a “Pff!” sound and then an uncontrollable laugh.

Juudai tilted his head.

“What’s-”

“You always have to be my hero, huh?”

…

Once again, Juudai blushed like mad. But this time his expression of embarrassment slowly morphed into a smile.

“Hehe…. I can’t help it.” The young brunette giggled, dragging his hand from Shou’s shoulder and onto his cheek. “I guess… I like to be your hero.”

He could feel how Shou’s face got warmer.

The young bluenette tried to talk but ended stumbling between his own words, and after a couple of pathetic attempts to form a coherent sentence, Shou opted for just clearing his throat and try again.

“S-so… The laundry?”

…

“R-right!” Juudai retired his hand and laughed nervously. “Sorry!”

“It’s fine, let’s just-”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re right.”

And just like that, they continued to walk down the hall. Still a bit shaken from…. Their interesting scene.

* * *

The two remained quiet for the most part, only making an occasional sound as they placed the rinsed clothes inside the dryer.

There were little glances here and there every few seconds, but it always ended the same. With them trying to gaze somewhere else and to avoid saying something embarrassing.

“So…” Shou mumbled, not making eye contact with his friend.

“Yeah?” Juudai side-eyed him for a second as he kept going with his task.

“Did Johan ever told you he plans on opening a bakery?” Shou tried to sound casual, choosing the most normal topic of conversation he could remember.

“Uh?” Juudai blinked at the random question, but then smiled. “Yeah, he told me he is gonna make it the first crystal bakery ever.”

“Crystal bakery?” Shou asked, a bit intrigued. Johan had left that detail out last time they talked.

“You know, like the rock candy cake he baked for Jim’s birthday.” Juudai clarified.

“Oh! I remember!”

“Yeah, he said everything in his shop will have at least one piece of rock candy.” Juudai giggled. “Did he told you he started to make little bugs with rock candy too? They look so cool.”

“That actually sounds great.” Shou nodded. “But… He does know that not everyone likes rock candy thou, right?”

“I told him that, actually.”

“And what did he say?”

“That he doesn’t care.” Juudai shrugged.” He says people can go and get normal sweets everywhere, he wants his stuff to stand out.”

Shou couldn’t help but to think that was a good point.

“Well then I guess I shouldn’t worry about it.” Shou said with a smile. “His pastries are awesome.”

“Yeah… Remember the crystal doughnuts?” Juudai asked with a silent laughter, and then smirked when he heard Shou giggle in response.

“Of course, remember the crystal pie?”

“Can’t forget how it hurt.” Juudai smiled, rubbing a small scar on his cheek.

The last time Johan baked a crystal pie, it somehow ended with Juudai making a dumb comment that caused Manjoume to slam a piece of said pie on Juudai’s face.

However, as much of a jerk as Manjoume was, he didn’t expect a piece of rock candy to actually cut through Juudai’s skin.

“Well, at least he apologized for it.” Shou pointed out. “Pretty sure that’s the only time he’s ever said sorry.”

“Was it?.... Pretty sure I heard him apologize before… I think.”

“Probably, but definitely not to us.” Shou rolled his eyes. “He’s too salty for that.”

“Yeah…. Have you talked to him? Like, recently?”

“He called yesterday.” The young bluenette nodded. “Of course, there was no “Hey, how are you doing? How are the kids? Am I being an asshole for calling as soon as you got them to nap?” Nope, none of that, he just wanted to rant about some shit.”

“What happened?” Juudai tilted his head, Shou sounded pissed, but not pissed off annoyance. His tone is more like he’s pissed on Manjoume’s behalf.

And that’s pretty rare.

“Well…” Shou winced for a second. “His mom is at it again.”

Juudai blinked, but after a couple of seconds he realized what his friend meant.

“So… She’s still trying to set him up?”

“Yeah, his brother is getting married and she tried to set him up with one of the bride’s sisters.” Shou explained what Manjoume had shouted through the phone yesterday. “Honestly, I thought she would stop after the blind date incident, but I guess I was wrong.”

“Oh, I remember that.” Juudai giggled. “Remember how angry he got?”

“Of course, I do! I was there! That idiot got so wasted, he ended up throwing up on my carpet.” Shou complained and Juudai pretended to wince at his answer.

“Did he apologize?”

“No but at least, I made him clean it.”

“You hid his deck and threatened him, didn’t you?”

“…. Okay, but am I that fucking predictable when it comes to Manjoume?” Shou asked with annoyance.

He couldn’t help but to pout when the only answer he got was a giggle, so instead of saying anything, Shou just threw the wet sock he was holding in the dryer.

Juudai smirked, he honestly can’t get enough of Shou’s angry pouts.

The young bluenette planned on remaining angry as he tossed another piece of clothing into the machine, but as he reached out with his arm, he realized that the washer was completely empty.

“Oh, I guess that’s all the clothes.” Shou forgot about his pettiness. “I’ll just-”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Juudai moved so his friend could finally close the lid.

“Y-you’re fine, I’m just gonna-”

He didn’t allow himself to finish the sentence out of awkwardness, instead he just hummed something unintelligibly as he pressed the buttons.

Juudai almost jumps back at the sudden tumbling that came from the dryer, he didn’t expect it to be so loud, or to hit the floor and walls so hard.

“You okay? Shou asked, teasing his friend for how he had just reacted.

“Y-yeah! Totally, totally, totally okay.” He might have almost yelled the first word out of embarrassment, but the rest was a mumble.

Juudai tried his best to not blush, but the heat on his face told him that it was too late.

“Sorry.” Shou giggled. “So sorry, I didn’t mean to spook you or anything.”

“I-I wasn’t spooked!”

“Yeah, right.”

The brunette’s eyes snapped wide open when he felt a poke on his cheek.

“What the-Hey!” He hissed with a grin. “What was that for?!”

He found the way Shou shrugged so innocently both cute and infuriating at the same time.

The bluenette was just about to repeat his previous action, but this time, Juudai caught Shou’s hand and smirked. Even if he could feel a couple of fingers brushing against his face, he managed to not be poked a second time.

“Oh, come on!” Shou jokingly complained. “You poke me on the face all the time!”

Juudai froze for a second.

_Okay, he had a point._

But still, the young duelist did his best to keep smirking… All while still holding his gentle grip on the bluenette’s hand.

Which was not weird.

Not weird in the slightest.

“That’s different. I have rights.” He declared, sounding like his usual self. Although, if Shou did not know any better, he would think Juudai was avoiding something in his mind.

Still, he chose to go along with it. If Juudai needed to distract himself, then Shou will help him.

“Oh, do you?” He asked, a bit smug.

Juudai blinked, he didn’t expect Shou to go along with it.

“Yup.”

“And pray tell, who gave them to you?” Shou arched an eyebrow.

“Why, I think it’s obvious.”

Shou was a bit surprised by that answer, but still refused to lose… Whatever this was, so he slid a few fingers between Juudai’s, intertwining their hands together.

“Is it?” He tentatively asked.

Juudai arched an eyebrow, he knew this look. Shou was acting defiant.

“Yeah.” He loves to double down whenever his friend acts like this.

After not receiving a snark remark in response, Juudai blinked and stared down at him. He noticed that Shou looked a bit nervous all of the sudden, he seemed frozen in place and his cheeks were a bit pink.

It was until a few seconds of staring that Juudai realized how close the two of them were, and how his grip on Shou’s hands had tightened a bit.

… He should let go.

He really should.

But… He doesn’t.

Shou doesn’t either.

Instead, he is giving him a look that he couldn’t read. No matter how well he knows the young bluenette… This is a gaze that he wasn’t sure he’s seen before.

And Juudai wasn’t sure why, but he felt like maybe he’s giving Shou a similar puzzling look.

“I-” He wanted to say something, anything.

But he couldn’t.

Instead, he found Shou’s face getting closer. Juudai wasn’t at all sure which one was moving forward, though. Maybe it was himself, doing something out of impulse like he normally does.

He didn’t had time to think about the reason of their increasing closeness, because all thoughts in his head had just disappeared for a moment.

Before he knew it, Juudai felt a soft pair of lips against his own.

_It was a kiss._

And…. It felt nice.

It was gentle, warm and…

Sweet.

Yeah, that was the word to describe it.

But as sweet as the kiss was, Shou couldn’t help but to tremble a little at this sensation. The thought was registering in his mind.

…He was kissing his best friend.

A nervous hand wandered its way to the brunette’s face, Shou tentatively caressed Juudai’s cheek the back of his fingers, and then his thumb.

He could feel how Juudai’s cheeks shifted as he started to smile, he also felt Juudai’s lips curving up, then he saw that same smile with his own eyes as they slowly separated.

They looked at each other, eyes half lidded and a gentle blush spreaded on their faces.

They knew that the other had questions, and that it was in their best interest to talk about what just happened.

But they wouldn’t talk about it.

Instead, they kissed.

Again.

And again.

_And again…_

They kissed so much that their bodies started to grow confident with each other, and very soon they found themselves making out.

In the laundry room.

“Mmm… Shou?” Juudai breathed softly.

“Yeah?” The bluenette’s lips did not moved, but the question still came out.

“Is… Is this okay?” He asks, growing significantly sheepish.

He isn’t very specific but Shou can tell what he refers to.

“I… I don’t know?” Shou whispers, looking down.

He then looks behind himself, at the wall he is pinned against, and then at his best friend once again.

“…. It feels okay.” He mumbled. “Are you okay with it?”

“I am!” He nods enthusiastically, but still nervous. “B-but… I dunno if I should be…. It’s…. It’s a lot.”

“Yeah.” Shou silently laughed, sounding just as confused as his best friend “I get what you mean… I… I never thought I would be making out with my best friend next to the washing machine.”

The young bluenette smiled when he saw Juudai giggling and how he phrased it.

“So…” Juudai stopped giggling and sighed, still smiling. “What do we do about this?”

“I… Don’t know.” Shou mumbled. “Um… Maybe talk?”

“Huh? About what?” Juudai tilts his head.

“Well… Maybe about us? About _this_ … Maybe we should talk about what we are doing and how we feel about it.”

Juudai slightly nodded.

“Yeah… I’d like that.” His tone sounded so relieved.

“Great…” Shou sighed in contempt, he smiled when he felt Juudai’s grip on his hand tightening once again. “We could talk about this in bed if you want.”

“Wha-”

“Wait, no!” Shou blushed and covered his mouth. “I-I didn’t mean it like that! I just meant that, well you are tired! I’m tired! Pharaoh probably took over the couch already, and my bed is more comfortable th-”

_“S-shou”_

“Y-yes?”

Juudai grinned, his blush seemed to come back to his cheeks.

“That sounds like a good idea.”

Shou blinked.

“G-great.” He cleared his throat after hearing how pitchy his voice just sounded. “W-well, then I guess I-”

“O-oh right!” Juudai steps back in order to give Shou more space to move.

The young bluenette walked through the door and held it open for his friend, basically guiding him by the hand, as they were still holding to each other.

After that, Shou just expected to walk to his room, but the minute Juudai left the laundry room, he placed his other hand on Shou’s chin and guided the bluenette towards him.

He didn’t exactly had a reason why, he just felt like kissing him again.

And instead of growing nervous, Shou smiled and put as much enthusiasm on the kiss as his friend did. Then giggled through the kiss when he felt Juudai wrapping his arms around his waist, it kind of felt like he was contemplating the idea of lifting the bluenette as they kissed.

If that’s what Juudai was planning… Honestly he wouldn’t mind, right now Shou felt too comfortable in Juudai’s warmth to even care about being picked up.

He made sure to bring them even closer by wrapping both arms around the bruenette’s neck, feeling a bit of his soft hair on his hands.

Juudai let’s out a giggle, welcoming the further closeness.

Shou giggles too, sighing a bit as he feels the kissing getting deeper.

Their grip on each other tightens a bit, bringing them as close as humanly possible.

However…

They decide to separate a bit for air.

They can’t help but to smile like the idiots they are, waiting for the other to say something, preferably something they can laugh about.

Seeing how the silence started to grow, they both decided to just take the fault and say something stupid.

But at that moment.

_“Waaah!”_

Yeah, it was impossible.

As the sound of loud crying invaded the halls of Shou’s apartment.

_Shit._

Shou and Juudai froze in place, eyes wide as they could be.

A good five seconds passed without the two of them facing each other, maybe hoping that this situation would somehow become less awkward but knowing perfectly that it would definitely not.

"Uh...S-so..." The nervous brunette laughed awkwardly, hoping to come up with something coherent, but right now his mind was blank.

"S-sorry, I should have known…" Shou groaned, stopped hugging the other male, and just ran a hand through his face. “Um...Could...Could you please-"

"R-right! Right!" With more nervous laughter, Juudai took a step back. "I...I’ll just-"

"Juudai, I'm sorry, I-"

 _"Stop apologizing, Shou_.” His friend interrupted him, forcing the young bluenette to see the gentle smile he was giving him. "It's okay, go check on them."

Now Shou was the one to laugh, it came out really forced, maybe because he needed it.

"Actually, the girls are still asleep, it's just Yukio." Shou mumbled starting to walk to the other side of the hallway. "He wakes up pass midnight every night."

"Really? And why?" Juudai asked with curiosity.

"Well… That's just how he is, I guess. He gets hungry…. And his first reaction for everything is crying, so... I mean, my brother said it's something I used to do so I guess he gets it from me, right?" Shou mumbled but then looked up at the sound of the brunette's laughter. "What's so funny?"-

"N-nothing! It's just... I think it's cute." He answered, still smiling. "That Yukio is.... You know... A-a lot like you... Even if he is just a baby."

Shou blinked, a bit surprised for the response, but then gazed at the floor with a soft smile.

"I guess...” He whispered, his cheeks starting to grow pink one more time.

**So….That’s another chapter done! It took a while to plan and to write, but I hope the fact that it’s super long makes up for the little hiatus!**

**Thank you so much for reading, I hope to hear what you think in the comments, please don’t be too harsh, I don’t remember the last time I wrote a kiss so….Yeah, I know it probably sucked.**

**And, again, I’m sorry for the wait! But I guess better late than never….Or I guess better on the last day of the year than never.**

**Oh, and as a treat, I decided to post a few doodles!**

**  
**

**Here's a quick doodble from a scene from chapter 1, complete with two dorks in shock and a tiny babu nomming on her dad's shirt.**

**And....  
  
**

**Here's a bit of concept art I have from my adult designs of Juudai and Shou, as well as my designs of how the triplets would look as teenagers!  
First it's Ako, her look mostly inspired by Ryou, hope you can see the little details, next is Ryoko with her wild hair! She would pretty much embrace it and rock it with confidence! Also a couple of details inspired by both her dads and a cute dark magician necklace! And finally there's Yukio, the anxious mess! I inspired his hairstyle from both Shou's and Juudai's.**

**Here's another one, because I just love them:  
  
**

**They might or not be the reason professor Cronos will consider retirement in the future! But...well, I haven't really given that much thought!**  
  
Anyways!

**Thank you for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes: Hello! Like always, it’s been a while! Since the spring semester is already here, that means work started again too, and...I also ended writing the draft for the next chapter too before deciding to where to finish this one. I had a hard time typing this chapter, but somehow I managed! So, I hope the wait was worth it!
> 
> Please enjoy and review!

Juudai must have watched the tutorial at least eight times before even attempting to open the bottle warmer. He wanted to make sure to not mess up.

Shou had told him to just put the bottle and press the center button, but he should know Juudai has not even seen a bottle warmer in his life! So, the chances of making a mess were extremely high.

 _Thankfully,_ he was able of looking up the instructions on his phone. All Juudai needed to do now was to fish the bottle out and repeat the process two more times. According to Shou, the kids kind of have this pattern where Yukio wakes up hungry in the middle of the night, and the girls follow suit a few minutes later.

It was kind of amazing how despite Yukio’s loud cries, his sisters did not even make a sound. Either they were so accustomed to their brother’s weeping, or they are heavy sleepers.

The young brunette winced, the bottle was so hot his fingertips almost let it fall. However, a winning smirk graced his features, for he had succeeded in heating up the formula.

He placed another bottle as he became aware of the whines that suddenly invaded the kitchen. Shou had walked in, holding a crying Yukio.

“Shh, it’s okay, Jellybean.” The young bluenette cooed, trying to soothe his child. “Everything is fine, I’m here.”

But Yukio only kept crying on Shou’s chest, lowering the sound of his wailing a bit because of how close he was.

That was the moment Juudai had realized how much the child was trembling, he blinked and looked at Shou with confusion apparent on his face.

Shou sighed and looked at his friend with a tired expression.

“I think he had a nightmare too.” He whispered while rubbing his son’s back.

Juudai felt bad for the little boy. He knows how badly night terrors can hurt you, and to imagine that such a young child gets to experience that pain…It kind of stung.

So, he gave the bottle to Shou. Hoping some food might cheer the baby up.

“Oh thanks.” The young bluenette grabs it and then holds it next to his son. “Look, Jellybean.”

The baby doesn’t move.

“Come on.” Shou coos. “Your uncle got this bottle all warmed up, just for you! Don’t you want it?”

Juudai’s heart skipped a beat so hard, he actually had to take a hand to his chest and make sure it was still beating.

_Holy shit…_

He was called an uncle.

 _He_ was referred to as Yukio’s uncle…

_Yes, given how he’s Shou’s friend, that’s kind of obvious._

But still.

He was called an uncle.

Shou must have noticed how that particular word took him by surprise, because he giggled for a second. Then went back to try to get his baby to eat.

“You are not hungry anymore?” He asked, obviously joking. “Well, then I guess I should give this to Pharaoh. I bet he’ll drink it.”

“Pff!” Juudai covered his mouth before his loud laugh spooked Yukio.

However, that sudden noise was just what they needed, as it caused the baby to stop hiding on his dad’s chest. He turned his gaze and saw the bottle being offered to him, so he stretched his little arms for it.

“Aw. See? I knew you were hungry.” Shou giggled.

Juudai didn’t miss how as soon as the bottle was in Yukio’s hands, he moved hi little feet and kicked Shou’s hand away.

He tilted his head, unsure of why the little boy did that or why Shou didn’t seem to mind.

“He doesn’t like it when I hold it for him.”

“Huh?” Juudai blinked in confusion. “Why?”

Shou laughs quietly and just shrugs.

“I don’t know.” He whispered, Juudai noticed how his voice sounded…Different. “He clings to me for everything, but this is the one thing he doesn’t need me for...He has even kicked me in the face just so I let go of the bottle.”

Juudai did not really expected that answer, but it made him realize something.

“So…A scaredy cat, but still feisty, huh?” The young brunette teased. “Just like his dad.”

Shou blushed at that comment.

“I-I’m not-”

“Shou your track record of butting heads with guys twice your size speaks for itself.”

Shou huffed and looked away, he could feel Juudai’s smirking at his embarrassment. However, instead of appearing angry, he just sighed and looked down at his child.

Juudai could not help but to notice the change. One second ago Shou looked upset, and now he seemed more relaxed as he brushed away some of the little streaks of hair that rested on Yukio’s face.

The baby looked up.

“Baa.” He stopped drinking his formula for a second and babbled at his dad.

Juudai did not wanted to say it, because he could be wrong. But it seemed as if he was asking Shou something, specially by how he took a little hand to Shou’s turtleneck and tugged it a few times.

Shou blinks, then looks at Juudai.

“Uh…I’m-” He tried to say something, but his cheeks turned a light pink. “Uh….”

“Yeah?” Juudai arched an eyebrow, he was confused but also curious.

“J-just… Just don’t judge me for what I’m about to do. Okay?” Shou asks, a bit awkward. “Because I swear if you laugh at me; I’ll kick your ass.”

“Uh…Okay?” Juudai couldn’t help but to give him a puzzled expression in return, he wasn’t sure what to answer.

Shou sighs and looks back at his son, his expectant eyes made him smile a bit.

 _“See the little bunnies, sleeping ‘til it’s noon?”_ The young bluenette starts singing.

Juudai blinks, he…Did not expect this.

“Mhm!” Yukio babbles, clearly enjoying this.

 _“Shall we wake them up?”_ Shou giggles coddling the baby closer to his chest. _“Singing a merry tune?”_

The little boy squealed against his bottle.

Juudai smiles as he arches an eyebrow. This was such a cute scene.

_“They are running late, to hop over the moon…Come and sing for them. Hope they wake up soon.”_

The young brunette reclined over the counter and stared as his friend kept humming the melody of the song.

He was most definitely grinning like an idiot.

But to tell the truth…He doesn’t care.

“Juudai.”

“Yeah?” He replied, half-whispering, half-swooning.

“The other bottle.”

“Yeah, sur-Huh” He blinks. “Wha-”

“Turn around.”

“Oh shi-” Juudai jumps in panic. He almost curses, but then remembers that Shou doesn’t want any of that near the kids. “I-I mean! Dang it!”

Now it was Shou’s turn to laugh at his friend. He shook his head with a smirk as he observed how Juudai opened the bottle warmer and put his hand inside the- _Wait._

“Juudai, wait!” He hisses.

The brunette turns around in confusion.

“Huh? What?”

“What the heck are you doing?” Shou asks, almost in disbelief.

He blinks and stares at the bluenette like he just grew a second head.

“Uh…Taking the bottle out?”

“What? You-” Shou sighed. “Not like that, you dummy! You are going to burn your fingers!”

“Huh?”

“Here,” Shou walked over to the counter and pointed at the device in front of them. “Pull that white thing out. It’s supposed to be like a basket to avoid burning your hand.”

Juudai, still a bit confused but willing to follow Shou’s instructions, moved the little white stripe on the black circle and lifted it. His friend was right, it was a handle.

“This thing is so weird.” He muttered, almost pouting.

“Right?” Shou giggled, obviously teasing him. “One night I was so exhausted that I got a good chunk of my hair stuck in it after I closed the lid.”

Juudai did not want to be noisy, but he could not stop himself from snorting at that information.

“You boiled your hair?!” He laughed even harder at the thought of Shou getting his ponytail stuck inside the bottle warmer.

“J-juudai!” The young bluenette hissed as he blushed.

“Wah!”

The loud whine made Juudai freeze mid-laugh, he even bit his tongue. He did not know what to do, thankfully, Shou reacted quickly and tried to calm his son down.

“It’s okay, Jellybean.” There was a nervousness present in Shou’s voice. “There, there. Don’t cry.”

Juudai observed as Shou gently caressed the baby’s cheek with the side of his index finger. It seemed to work only after a few seconds. Yukio had stopped whining, and just babbled as he grabbed his dad’s finger and gripped it.

The young brunette smiled; this was such a tender scene.

There was something so…Beautiful about Shou acting all fatherly. Juudai was aware that right now he was probably staring at him like an idiot, but in all honestly…He could not help it.

“You weren’t kidding. He’s a scaredy one, isn’t he?” Juudai whispered, a soft smile gracing his features.

“Oh, you have _no_ idea.” Shou whispered back, still trying to pay attention to his baby.

“And…Are you okay?”

God, he was probably sounding like a broken record at this point.

However, Shou did not seem to mind as he just nodded in response.

“Never better…” He replied. Juudai could tell that was not all that Shou wanted to say.

And he was right.

Because Shou had immediately sighed afterwards.

“Look, I know…I-I know it’s hard, okay?” He looked at Juudai, a soft blush had spread on his face. “A-and that it’s just me and I’m seriously outnumbered, but…But I don’t exactly mind.”

Juudai blinked, unsure of what to say to that.

“I guess I’m just crazy, huh?” Shou mumbled, cradling his son closer to his chest. “But…I just love them too much to care about myself, you know?”

Juudai sighed.

Yeah, he knew.

But…

“Then I guess it’s a good thing that I care about you enough for the both of us, huh?” He could not stop himself from stepping closer and place a hand on Shou’s arm.

Shou looked up and stared at him, he was probably taken by surprise as his blush became a lot brighter than before.

“Juudai-”

_“PUT A MUZZLE ON THAT DAMNED KID ALREADY!”_

The shout was quickly followed by a loud hit that came all the way from the apartment’s door.

Both men flinched as the sudden noised caused Yukio to whimper and bury his face on Shou’s chest once again. The bluenette, however, switched his expression in a snap.

Juudai blinked at how his eyes went from confusion to sharp anger so quickly, it almost made him flinch again.

His instincts told him that he should attempt to smile and break the tension.

“W-what’s up with that?”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Without any previous warning, Shou stepped closer to Juudai, carefully moving his son off his chest, and attempting to hand him over to the confused brunette.

“Can you please hold him? He asked, sounding a bit desperate. “I’ll be right back, it’s just-”

_“IF YOU DON’T SHUT YOUR BRATS THIS INSTANT, I’LL CALL ANIMAL CONTROL!”_

Despite being calmed enough to caress his baby’s hair in order to cease the whining, Shou growled.

Oh no…

Juudai knew that growl.

Shou is like two steps away from unleashing hell on whoever is causing this.

“S-shou, what’s going-”

“Nothing.” Shou cuts him off. “It’s just my asshole of a neighbor who thinks that if you scream at a child for long enough, it’ll stop crying.”

“What?”

“I-I don’t know!” Shou sighed with exasperation. “All I know is he’s a jerk, he gets noisy when he’s angry, and I don’t want him anywhere close to my kids. So, could you please hold Yukio while I take care of it?”

“S-sure.” He blinked. “But what if-”

“Juudai, if that idiot bangs the door one more time, he’ll scare the girls too. Please? I’ll be right back, just hold him.”

Despite still feeling unsure about this, the brunette nodded.

Juudai felt petrified as the small child made contact with his hands. This…This was different than when he was holding Ryoko.

Yukio felt so light in comparison to his sister…Damn, he is pretty sure his duel disk weights more than this boy…And still this one is the one that eats double?!

_Oh, fuck, he squirmed._

Yukio is not aware of what is going on, all he knows is that his dad is not holding him anymore. Shou seems to realize this, and just shushes him while he is delicately pushing him close to Juudai’s chest.

“Shh, it’s okay, Jellybean.” Shou coos in a whisper. “He’s got you.”

Juudai would feel nice about how Shou trusts him to keep his child safe…If he weren’t so scared.

As Yukio cuddles even closer to his chest, Juudai feels as if time stops for him.

He is not sure why, but all that he is able to feel right now is how the baby is rubbing his face and tiny hands right above his heart.

Juudai doesn’t snap out of it when Shou walks to the door, he just keeps holding Yukio. Hoping it’s tight enough to not drop him, but not enough to hurt him.

 _“He’s sensitive…”_ The memory of Shou’s voice started to echo in his mind. _“Very sensitive.”_

_Sensitive._

Fragile…This baby is fragile. So, he cannot just goof his way through this like he did with Ryoko.

That’s…That’s fine.

He can do this.

He can-

“Wah!”

_Oh shit._

He can’t do this!

He can’t-

_“Calm down!”_

Yubel’s voice snaps the young brunette back to reality.

Juudai blinks and looks down.

Yukio is clutching to him; his dark teal eyes look kind of glossy. He can tell the baby is barely capable of holding back the tears.

A couple of seconds later his mind registers all the noise going on here.

Shou is trying to get his neighbor to shut up. Juudai is not quite sure of what’s being said, he just focuses on Yukio.

“I-it’s okay.” He whispers, but all he got in response was another whine.

Fuuuuck!

What to do?

What would Shou- _Oh Wait!_

Hesitating a bit, Juudai caressed Yukio’s cheek with his thumb as gently as possible. He had managed to brush away some tears while he was at it, and it seemed to work well enough, because the whimpering had stopped. Now the little blue haired boy was looking up at him, babbling as if he was asking what’s all that noise, or where is his dad.

“It’s okay. No need for the tears.” Juudai whispers, significantly more confident than before. “Your dad will be back in no time.”

“Bah?” Yukio raised his little hands up. That gesture made Juudai realize that he wanted something.

Right! His bottle!

… _Oh, shit! The bottle!_

Panicking for a moment, the young brunette opened the bottle warmer and took the last bottle out.

“Phew.” Juudai sighed in relief. “That was a close one, huh? Now where’s your…Ah, gotcha!”

He blinked at how quickly the little boy grabbed it, but after a few seconds, his expression of surprise morphed into a smirk.

“You sure are a hungry little guy.” He giggled under his breath.

He did not expect the baby to make a sound as a reply.

“You want another song, don’t you?” He coos in a teasing tone. “You know I don’t know any lullabies, right?”

“Mmm.” Yukio replied, still drinking up his formula as he stared up at the brunette.

Juudai smiled and started to hum. It was the same melody that Shou was singing just a few minutes ago. Yukio seemed happy with that since he curled up further in Juudai’s arms. A clear signal that he was calmed.

Juudai felt his heart going all warm and fuzzy, it’s similar to when he kissed his best friend, but also different.

It was warm…But it was a different warm.

He wonders if this is exactly how Shou feels every day as he takes care of the kids.

And speaking of Shou, Juudai wonders if he’s okay right now…

_“Why don’t you just put on some fucking earplugs already instead of coming here to yell at my kids?! Or better yet! Get the fuck out of my doorway before I break your nose!”_

_“Because I need to sleep! And every damn night your brat is-”_

_“He’s a baby! Babies cry! Now get the hell out!”_

Welp, never mind, he’s fine.

**Thank you so much for reading!**

**I know this chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but when I was writing the draft on my notebook I kinda decided that it’s better if this chapter stops here, so the next scene transitions a bit better! Also, this might mean you guys won't have to wake up forever for me to update!....Hopefully, because, you know, life happens.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I can’t wait to write the next one! That is…If my responsibilities let me write at all.**


End file.
